So Many Secrets, So Little Time
by The Real Miss MysticFalls
Summary: Bella has gotten used to the fact that her boyfriend and his entire family are vampires who sparkle in the sun and drink animal blood to survive. She's even on speaking terms with Rosalie, but now a new girl's come to town, and something just seems off about her. She can't deny that both she and the Cullens are curious about this new face. How far will they go to figure her out?
1. Chapter 1: New Girl

**Hi! So this is a crossover between the vampire diaries and Twilight. Its been a while since I read Twilight, so I'm sorry if I get something wrong, and if I do, please feel free to point it out so I'll be sure to fix it in the future. In this story I am not going to be using most of the Twilight plots so unless it is mentioned in this fanfic you can forget it ever happened. As for TVD, Lexi hasn't been to Mystic falls yet and therefore has no idea who Elena is, or Caroline, Jeremy, ect. Sh just knows Stefan as her best friend and Damon as a jerk. I will try to update one or twice a week, maybe even more, but I'm not going to make a definate timeline, I'll make new chapters as they come to me. ALright, I think thats about it, so have fun reading and enjoy!**

**This is my first story, so please be nice and review, that'll definately make new chapters come more quickly! :)**

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**CHAPTER ONE**

The day started like any other, Bella woke up to the pitter-patter of rain on her roof. At first she just sat there, staring at the ceiling as she tried in vain to make herself roll out of bed. Bella stayed like this for several minutes before finally tossing the covers off of herself and groggily getting to her feet. With her luck, she managed to trip over the blanket she had tossed off the side of her bed and hit the ground with a soft thud. No big deal for her though, she was used to her own clumsiness.

The teen stretched as she slowly made her way over to the closet. She looked around, shifting though her bland cloths for a moment or two before finding what she waned. She pulled out some cloths and dropped them onto her bed so they would be there for her when she got back from getting ready. She shuffled her feet on the carpet as she made her way towards the bathroom, shut the door behind her. Within 15 minutes she took a shower, dried her hair, combed her hair(more or less) and came back into her room. Ten minutes later she was downstairs grabbing a quick bite to eat. She didn't feel like cooking anything this morning, so she lazily grabbed some cereal to satisfy her hunger. When she was finished she grabbed her bag and keys, calling a goodbye to Charlie.

The short drive through Forks was uneventful, and she even ended up getting to school early. Bella parked the old pick-up in her usual spot and got out of the car, scanning the parking lot for the Cullens. Luckily, they weren't too hard to find, and somehow she made it across the wet black top without tripping. When she arrived, she said her hellos and most of the family, returned them. She shifted a bit feeling ocward with the odd lack of conversation. "Is everything alright..?" She asked wearily. To put it bluntly, Bella wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer to her question. Everyone turned to look at Alice who was currently scanning the future for any problems. When she came out of the vaguely trance-like state she shook her head. "I didn't see anything dangerous." She said with a smile and a shrug. Before Bella got the chance to ask another question, the bell rang and they retreated inside the school.

Bella headed to her locker and picked up on whispers of _"New girl…"_ she sighed. _I thought they were over this already; I've been here for a while now…_ she thought, closing her locker and heading to class. Schedules had just changed so she now had Math first period with Alice, ad as long as she ws with one of the Cullens she was fine with it. She had just started to tune out the teacher and had began to doodle in her notebook, that is until she heard the door open. "Hi," An unknown voice started. Looking back on it she would remember the waves of whispers that started up as soon as this girl entered the room, but at the time she thought nothing of it. In a small town like FOrks, the littlest news caused commotion. When it didn't stop after a few seconds, she decided to look up and see what had caught everyone's attention. She was met by the sight of a tall girl with olive skin and _long_ blonde hair. _**This** must be the new girl everyone's been talking about…_ she realized as she watched the girl hand her slip to the teacher who signed it with a flick of his wrist. He nodded a greeting her way and handed it back telling her to tell the class something about herself. The girl turned to look at everyone, looking casual as ever in the face of the ever intimidating social hierarchy. Bella felt a twinge of jealousy at her obvious confidence. The other girl's cinnamon brown eyes were lit with casual interest as she scanned the room. "Sure," she said to the teacher before smiling to the class. "Hi, my name's Lexi."

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Lexi went through her classes giving the same sort of explanation when the teachers asked her to introduce herself. First she would tell everyone her name, then say that she was from sunny California, and maybe throw in some tidbit about her likes, dislikes, blah blah, blah, etcetera, etcetera. She, of course, didn't mind having to stand up in front of everyone, after living for 350 some years, public speaking wasn't the hardest thing she'd done to say the least.

It was time for lunch now, and she strode over to the lunch line. She waited for a moment behind some cheerleaders, ignoring the stares of curious small towners. When it was her turn she grabbed a small meal, still full from her last meal. Without much thought she turned, humming to herself as she searched for the right table to sit at. In the back of her mind, she was still wondering why she had decided to go back to school- and in _Forks_ of all places! Talk about small! This place made Mystic falls look like New York! She smiled for a minute at the thought of that place, and briefly pondered why she hadn't just gone back there. After all it had Stefan, Damon- _Oh, that's why._ she remembered, her frown disappearing as she rolled her eyes. Even in the midst of being lost in her thoughts, she felt something watching her, years as a vampire had heightened her senses. She spun around to see two girls staring at her. _Get it together, Lex, everyone's staring at you! _she silently scolded herself, pushing her other thoughts to the back of her mind. She vaguely remembered both of them from her first period class, so she just held her hand up and waved with two fingers. The first girl, seemed embarrassed at being caught and sent her a sorry smile, the other however beamed at her as if they had been best friends for years and years and waved back before the first said something in hardly a whisper. Lexi couldn't even here them from where she stood with her vampire senses. when the first was done they went to a table to eat. Lei briefly registered that there was little to nobody else around this particular circle of friends.

Curiosity fueled her gaze as she looked over the group. The first girl was sitting next to a strong-looking teen, but she couldn't tell much more about him while his back was to her. If she though he was big than the guy sitting next to him was a giant! He was easily the biggest, strongest looking man Lexi had seen in over a hundred years! Forcing herself to move on and not gape at the sight of his muscular form. Across from him she saw the same pixie-like girl she met had introduced herself as Alice, and seemed nice enough, even though she had only gotten as far as introductions. Beside that girl was another boy, not as muscularity built as the second but he still was impressive compared to most of the population here in forks. Lastly there was a beautiful girl sitting on the end of the bench. She made all of her observations in about three seconds and then turned away. She wasn't to interested in them, why would she be?

With that she went to nearby table and started idol conversations with the other teens. _This is going to be a long day..._


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow! Two reviews and some followers already! Awesome! I'm glad you guys like it and thanks for reviewing :) So tell me how you like this next chapter and enjoy :D**

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_Finally _Lexi thought with relief as the bell rang, signaling the end of the day. She was starting to remember why she hadn't been to school in over a decade. It was boring. The only thing she had done today was listen to people babble and drown on about things she already knew! The only class she had enjoyed was her advanced music and gym class. It was hard not to like gym when you get to see a bunch of senior guys work out. Lexi smirked at the memory, she may have lived for over 300 years but she was still just a Teenager. She was gathering her things when she saw someone fall out of the corner of her eye. they were only a desk away so she was able to slide between a desk and the matching chair at human speed and still get there in time to catch the poor child. "Easy there!" She muttered. When she got a look at the human's face she realized who it was.

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Bella gasped as her foot caught a stray chair leg and sent her towards the floor. She squeezed her eyes shut in anticipation but the sting of the impact ever came. After a moment she blinked open her eyes and realized someone had caught her. She felt a strong, cool hand on her shoulder and another on her arm. _"easy there." _She knew that voice! When her wide eyes found her savior's face she confirmed her suspicions. "Thanks, I must have tripped..." She explained softly. Lexi's lip's twitched upwards into an amused grin. "Must have." She agreed, removing her hands once Bella was perpendicular to the floor again. Bella watched her turn away and hesitated for a moment, watching her collect her spirals before saying. "I'm Bella- Bella Swan." She stuttered the soft introduction. Lexi looked up and smiled kindly a her. "I would introduce myself but if you didn't know my name by now I'd be surprised." She replied. Coming from anyone else it would have sounded arrogant, snarky even, but Lexi only sounded mildly amused and a tad annoyed at the fact. "Nice to meet you, Bella." she finished kindly. Bella smiled at her in return and then bent down to gather the things she had dropped when she started falling. Lexi had started to leave, but stopped after a moment to glance back at Bella. She frowned emphatically at the sight of the teen crawling after her things. A few seconds later she was crouched next to Bella, helping her gather the scattered papers and pencils. "Thanks." Bella replied, surprise clear on her face when she found someone else grabbing at her scattered school supplies. "Don't mention it." Lexi said with a gentle smile. The girls got to their feet a bit later with a now organised pile of stuff in Bella's arms. Lexi turned and picked up her binder, books and pens before heading to the door. Bella followed, jogging for a second to catch up. "Hey," She called, well more like muttered. Bella was surprised when Lexi turned around, _she must have good ears... _she thought before continuing on her path to Lexi's side. "Hey, um, you busy tomorrow after school? We could start on that science project thing." she suggested as Lexi started walking with her. The blonde girl paused and seemed to think about it for a second before asking, "Can I get back to you on that one?" _I need to get more bloodbags from the hospital tomorrow... _she thought trying to figure out if she would have time to study with Bella afterschool and get to the hospital. Bella frowned and looked down a bit before faking a smile when Lexi looked up. "Yeah sure, no problem." She replied her voice soft. Lexi caught the bit of sadness in her eyes, and see right through the façade she had crafted to hide it. So after only a moment of hesitation she shrugged. "You know what, yeah, why not?" She said making herself sound casual. To her relief the smile reappeared on Bella's face. "Cool, I guess I'll see ya tomorrow then." she said, getting a nod in return from the vampire. "Can't wait." Lexi said. With that the two went there separate ways.

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Lexi started out the school's main entryway with a beige backpack slung over her shoulder. She took her time coming down the steps and couldn't help a smile. She was starting to realise why Forks had been a good idea. Since Damon and Stefan were the only ones with those nifty little daylight rings she couldn't go out in the sun. She glanced down at her hand to see her beloved mood ring from '78. She loved it but it wasn't as handy as a daylight ring, and since her skin was so cool anyway, it rarely changed color in the first place. Here though, she didn't need one. She had thought it impossible but it was _so_ cloudy and rainy everyday here that she was able to go outside!

The vampire was tossed out of her inner rambling when she heard her name. It wasn't shouted, or called, but that was one of the perks you got as a vamp, you heard almost everything. She honed in on the conversation as she walked, careful to keep from looking over at the source. (A/N Putting what she hears in Italics) '_I'm partners with Lexi for that science project.'_ She easily identified that as Bella. _'The new girl?'_ This voice belonged to a guy, she spared a quick glance over her shoulder to see who and saw a group of six casually hanging out in the parking one who had spoken was the same buff guy she had seen with Bella ar Lunch, in fact it was the same group. _'Yeah. She seemed really nice.'_ Bella again. _'Well maybe we should meet your new best friend Bella. Hey, perfect! She's right over there!' _Lexi was quick to look away and avoid suspicion, not that a bunch of human teens would even begin to suspect the truth. She heard a shuffle of movement as they turned to follow Emmet's gaze and soon all of them were looking at her. A new voice spoke up, she knew this one as well, it was that girl with the pixie-like haircut from her first period class. _'Yeah, come on Bella, introduce us!' _she chimed eagerly as if she knew it would go well. Bella considered it for a minute before shrugging _'Yeah, ok.'_ she said finally as she grabbed her bag and pulled it onto her back once more. A minute later she was behind Lexi calling to her. "Lexi! Hi, I was wondering if I could introduce you to some of my friends..." She offered sounding shy, which only made Lexi smile. Bella took it as reassuring and continued, "Come on, there just over here." Lexi shrugged and shifted her bag to her other shoulder as she spoke. "Sure, sounds like fun." Bella smiled again and grabbed Lexi's hand to lead her over. When the tall blonde was in front of the Cullens Bella started to talk again, "Lexi I'd like you to meet..."

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**Alright, well I'd like to say that I know somebody out there is _probably _thinking that what I said about Fork's rainy weather allowing her to walk in the sun is impossible. (or at least unlikely) I know that she would most likely burn even with clouds and such, _but_ it wouldn't be much fun if she was forced to stay inside all day and for some unknown reason I can't give her a ring yet. So, please just roll with it for now :)**

**Tell me if you have a suggestion on what the Cullens reactions should be to Lexi, 'cause I'm having a hard time deciding.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you for the reviews! To clear this up, yes Lexi and Bella are lab partners. I like the suggestions given and I think I'll use them when the Cullens find out Lexi's little secret instead. Most of the questions asked are actually answered in this chapter :) And thanks for the compliments! **

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Lexi followed Bella over to the group that was now watching the two approach. Lexi turned to look at one of the nearby cars as one of the school's proclaimed 'jocks' started to blare some _terrible _music. She tried to ignore it though, and focus on the Cullens. As Lexi looked at them she realised they were even more beautiful then she had realised. Up close everything seemed... Better. She noticed little things she hadn't picked up on earlier in the lunchroom, like their eyes. _Beautiful..._ That was the only word she could come up with to describe the liquid gold that was the Cullen's eyes. Lexi couldn't remember ever seeing such a thing, and being over 350 years old, that isn't something she usually got to say. She knew she should probably stop staring at them, but the longer she looked the more she saw. Each of them were a different shade, the pixie girl's for example were lighter, like the type of thing you imagine when you think of new gold jewelry or something equally expensive. The muscular boy to her left though, had a dark gold like... Well she didn't really know what to compare it to. It was one of those things that you could never quite explain in words alone. Suddenly she was aware of Bella's voice beside her. "... but they live with the Cullens." From what Lexi could gather, Bella had just finished some sort of introductions. Now the girl was looking at her with a bright smile, and she knew it was time to introduce herself or say something. "Um, its nice to meet you all." She said, forcing a smile to cover the wonder and curiosity she was feeling. Bella bought it, and just smiled, happy that her newfound friend had decided to come say hello.

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Edward looked to his siblings when Bella was talking to Lexi and could tell that each one of them was listening to the two. He was happy that Bella had seemed to make a friend that wasn't in his family, she spent enough time with vampires and he wouldn't interfere if it ment that she was going to spend time with a human. He hated being away from her, but it was safer for her to be around humans than it was for her to be around seven vampires.

He smiled as she started back over, with Lexi in tow. When she got there he immediately took her hand in his. "Lexi I would like you to meet the Cullens." Bella started, and he held back a chuckle at the small sence of pride he heard in her voice. "This is Edward-" She motioned with her free hand to him with a smile. Then she pointed towards Alice on the other end of the line that they had made. "That's Alice, his sister, we have first period with her." Alice chose to pipe up, chiming "And 5th period english." She seemed excited, well, more so than usual. When Edward glanced into her thoughts he heard something about a vision. He tried to keep the look of confusion off his face and just resolved to ask later. If it was anything bad she would have told them. "Emmet is in the middle, I think you might have gym with him..." She trailed off and looked at the muscley vampire for some sort of confirmation. He just nodded him head and went back to observing the new girl. It clearly wasn't in an attracted sort of way though. He had a look of... curiosity might be a good way to phrase it, only less interested. When Edward looked back at Lexi he noticed the same type of expression on her face, only where Emmets was just mildly interested, her's was discreetly searching each of our faces as if they would disappear if she looked away. Bella didn't notice as she continued on with the intros. "Then theres Rosalie and Jasper Hale." She pointed to each of them in turn before explaining, "They're related to Esmé, and are twins, but they stay with the Cullens." He decided to look into the new girl's thoughts and see what she was so curious about. (A/N Italics plus underlined is what Edward hears) He frowned at what he heard, or what he didn't hear rather. He only got little fragments of thoughts. _How... Golden... Never seen..._He tried again and got the same sort of bits and pieces results. Jasper must have sensed his discomfort, because he turned to look at his brother who just shook his head, signaling that he would explain later.

While those two made their exchange, Alice had already bounced forward. "Hi, its nice to meet you too!" She chirped, taking Lexi's hand to shake. When they touched both girls seemed confused for a moment. Lexi pulled her hand away. "Sorry, my hands are freezing, I'm not used to the rain..." She tucked a stray hair back behind her ear as she spoke. Alice's smile seemed to return, accepting the lie as true. "Oh, yeah mine too, sorry. On the bright side, you'll get used to it after a while." She said good naturedly.

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Fifteen minutes later, the groups finally parted ways. Lexi went back to her car while the Cullens did the same. It took them all of ten minutes to get home. Each Cullen was thinking about this mysterious new girl. Edward's thoughts were plagued with confusion on why he couldn't read her. The only person he couldn't read was Bella, why would this human be any different. He walked to his room so he could continue to mull it over. Jasper thought she was kind enough. he could tell with his gift that she had been curious about he and his family, but he was used to that. After all, they were the loners at school and she had probably heard one or two rumors about them and he figured that was why. Rosalie didn't really have much of an opinion on her, but she couldn't deny that she was... Interested in Lexi. It was strange, she was curious about this new girl... She felt there was something different about her. Emmet liked her, and so did his sisters, so for once, he couldn't wait for Monday. Alice was excited, she kept remembering that vision she had a few days ago, and couldn't wait to see it come true!

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**Hope you liked it! Please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Alright guys sorry for the little wait there, this chapter gave me some writers block -_- I got it thought so please review cause they really do help me get the chapters out faster :) Anyway there is a flashback early on in this chapter that I put in Italics, so I hope you like it!**

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Two days had passed since Lexi first met the Cullens and Lexi found herself walking down the hallway to lunch again. Today it was raining (big surprise) so Lexi had figured it would be safe enough to come to school, after all, it couldn't have rain without sun-blocking clouds. She could remember the last time she had been out during the day... it had been over 350 years ago...

_Laughter filled the air as she ran. The long leaves of bowing trees brushed her face as she sped through the green maze that she called a forest. One hand was lifted near her side to hold the long skirt of her dress and the other was spread in front of her to push away the branches nearest to her. All of a sudden the trees stopped as she emerged into a large field. She started to slow, still laughing before her laughter turned to a squeal and a chorus of giggles as she felt someone grab her from behind. _

_"I win, Miss Branson." _

_A stong tenor voice interrupted her laughter. She squirmed playfully in his grip for a bit as he lifted her up off her feet and spun her around. Her long curls of blonde hair looked like a waterfall of gold as it shown in the sun. That was how it used to look but in years of darkness it had lost the shining gold glimmer it once had and faded to an icy blonde shade. Now she never let it curl itself and always straightened it, at first glance one wouldn't be able to identify this giggling young creature as the Lexi we all know today._

_ The madden allowed this to go on for a few moments, smiling broadly as she enjoyed the feel of the wind fluttering past her. She looked up into the light blue sky above her, if she kept her eyes skyward then she could pretend for a moment that the ground was not just below her reach and instead she was up with the clouds flying among them. Her daydream ended as quickly as it had started as she remembered the strong hands around her waist. She heard the same man declare, _

_"I caught you." _

_"It was hardly fair, William!"_

_The voice was clearly Lexi's but she had a strange accent mingling with her usual tone. It sounded british but with a hint of a french accent as well. The man behind her laughed and put her down with a chuckle. She slid out of her shoes, feeling the soft spring grass touch the souls of her feet. she found herself thinking 'I can not search the clouds but I should think the softness here is just as great!' Once again her thoughts had been cut off by the man _

_"Alexia, will you ever admit that I have won?" _

_He questioned as he released her from his hold. _

_"Well Mr. Bren, I ask you, where the fun in that?" _

_She asked before taking off again with a laugh and a smile. "Alexia! Wait you left your-" Her friend trailed off when she sent his smile over her shoulder and kept going. After a moment he just shook his head before scooping up her purposely discarded shoes and heading after her. _

"Hey, earth to Lexi?" The vampire blinked and turned feeling someone's hand shaking her shoulder gently. When she finally looked over she saw Bella and that pixie friend of her's standing next to her. "Hey, you alright?" She asked, concern etched into both of the girl's features. Lexi glanced around the hallway and to her surprise she was standing in the exact same place. Everyone else had flooded into the lunchroom already, leaving just the three of them. The pixie girl, who Lexi now realised was Alice Cullen, took a step closer and muttered "Lexi? You need to sit down?" Lexi noticed that she hadn't actually responded to either of them yet and nodded, walking over to the bench that was nestled between a row of lockers and the wall. "Sorry, I got a little lost in my thoughts." She said to them, rubbing her forehead. Bella nodded and sat down next to her friend while Alice stood because there wasn't anymore room on the tiny bench. Lexi noticed that the two still looked worried. "You sure?" Bella asked. She nodded and tried a different tactic to get them to believe her. "Yeah, I'm good." She started before forcing one of her signature smile-smirks and asking "How stupid did I look standing there?" Bella and Alice both smiled at her unexpected comment before Bella stood. Alice extended her hand to help Lexi up and the other girl took it with a smile.

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The three entered the lunchroom a minute or two later, and Lexi thanked them once more before they headed their separate ways. As they walked Alice looked over to Bella and asked "Did that seem familiar to you too?" She asked softly, sending a last glance in the direction of the newest member of the school. Bella followed her gaze to Lexi and then shook her head. "Not really, why?" Alice seemed to think about saying something but then closed her mouth, deciding not to. "Nevermind."

Then they reached the table that she and the rest of the family always sat. Emmet looked at them and said "We were wondering where you two were." Alice smiled her hellos before telling him, "We were helping out Lexi." Emmett seemed to think about it for a minute before finally remembering Lexi was the new girl Bella had introduced them to a few days ago. "Oh, you have to point her in the right direction again Bells?" He asked casually. Bella and Alice shook their heads simultaneously. "Nope, more like snapped her back to reality." Alice claimed before she explained what had happened.

"Bella and I were headed to Lunch when we noticed Lexi walking in the hall. We wanted to say 'hi' so we started to go over and then she just stopped. She got this distant look in her eyes, and just sort of stood there like that. No one else seemed to notice though, I guess they were to interested in getting their food. Anyway, Bella and I were worried so we went over and asked her if she was alright, but she didn't respond. She must have been thinking really hard or something because Bella had to shake her shoulder to get her to snap out of it." When Alice finished Rosalie offered some information up, "That sounds kinda like one of your visions, Alice." She looked towards her sister for any signs of agreement. Alice nodded "Thats what I thought too, but..." She looked over at Bella who nodded "Now that you mention it, I guess it was a little like that..." She agreed hesitantly.

Each vampire glanced over at the 'human' before Jasper muttered "She seems alright to me, what do you think Edward?" He figured if there was something wrong with her, he would be able to find out what with his mind reading ability. His brother seemed to focus for a moment before he released a low growl of pure frustration. Everyone's head whipped towards him in surprise. When Edward noticed he answered the unspoken question, "I can't read her." He said simply. There was a moment of minor chaos where everyone said something at once.

"What?!"  
"How?"  
"Your kidding!"  
"Dude!"  
"What?!"

When they were silent once more he said "I don't understand either." Bella chose to speak up again, "Well you can't hear my thoughts, maybe she's like me for some reason." Edward immediately shook his head no. "This is different. I keep getting little bits and pieces from her, like... There is a bad connection or something." He tried to explain. The table was silent for the rest of Lunch, each person trying to make sence of the mystery that was becoming Lexi Branson.

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**Alright! So I'll put the next chapter up after I get three reviews :) I have a poll up on my profile so please take a look at that too if you could.  
Things to review on...**

**A- Did you like the flashback/should I try to make another one later on?  
B- Should the Cullens confront Lexi soon?  
C- Suggestions for the next chapter to help my muse XD **

**Hope you liked it! :D**


	5. Chapter 5

**Oh my gosh, thank you so much to the people who reviewed! It makes me feel fantastic that you like this story so much! I also want to say thanks to MMe for his/her imput on the last chapter, it helped me write this new one :) I also wanted to say that I know everyone's a little out of charactor in this story, but I'm going to try to stay true to Lexi's attitude, minus a few slip ups here and there. **

**And now, without further ado, I give you Chapter five!**

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Writing Ch 5

It was later in the day now, school had just let out. As soon as her last class ended Lexi spring out of her chair and ran out of the door as fast as her human speed would let her. Originally the plan had been that she would meet up with Bella after school but the teen had told her earlier that she had to cancel. Lexi was glad, she knew she needed to get home. The reason? Hunger. Her throat was burning, and her gums ached relentlessly as her fanged tried to fight there way to the surface. It had been stupid to push herself like this and the most irritating part was the she knew that!

She had been a vampire for nearly three hundred and fifty years and she had been foolish enough not to drink human blood for five days in a row now. It had been sloppy and careless; two things she couldn't afford to be. Not when human lives were at stake.

Lexi knew she couldn't just stand there as more and more kids came flooding out of classrooms. Her mind was fogged with thirst, she couldn't think right! She knew that she had to get out of there though. In one quick moment she fled to the girl's bathroom in hopes that the small bit of isolation between herself and all those blood filled beings would be enough. She toned into the noises around her and to her dismay the hallways were still filled with kids.

She looked up at the mirror and took a shaky breath, seeing the veins under her now blood red eyes. She shook her head, a new determination filling her. _Come on, Alexia! You've done it before, just breath. _She silently coached herself. She turned on one of the sinks to drown out the sound of the teenagers chatting in the hallways. _Just breath... _She put her elbows on the edge of the sink and placed her head in her hands as she watched the water slosh around the sink. Her icy blonde hair fell around her in a silky vale as she focused.

She tried to keep her breathing shallow in hopes of keeping the luscious sent of human blood away from her. She did drink from humans, well only sometimes. 95% of the time she used Bloodbags. She had tried the so called 'bunny diet' once but the blood just tasted horrible! She had kept at it for about two weeks before finally going back to her bloodbags.

She tried to toon out the thumping of a hundred hearts, pumping blood through the petty teen's bodies and it was taking everything she had not to charge out there and take that from the first human she saw. She closed her eyes and clutched the edge smooth edge of the sink. She felt the tips of her fangs start to peak out of her gums and started to hold her breath. She remained like this for two full minutes, focusing on the sound of the water in the sink. THe soft rush and twinkles of sound as the water hit the hard surface. Suddenly she felt release. The veins under her eyes faded back into her skin and she felt her long fangs reluctantly slide back into hiding. Very last the blood red tricked out of her eyes, a feeling she had become familiar too.

She let out a sigh that was coupled with a soft almost inaudible cry. She finally opened her eyes and tilted her head upwards to risk a quick glance into the mirror through her long lashes. She knew what she would see as she took in her tanned skin, free of the dark blue stripes under eyes. She parted her mouth a bit and started to straighten as she made sure her k9s were as they were supposed to be. Lastly she gazed into her eyes. They were her normal Cinnamony brown color, but she could see them darkening with the blunt of her blood induced hunger.

What she didn't expect to see was a small girl with sharp pointed black hair standing just behind her.

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The rest of the day went pretty smooth for the rest of the Cullens, that is if you could forget about the maze of questions that were constantly invading their thoughts. Eventually though the end of the day came and none to soon. They were planning to have a family meeting when they got home-well after Carlisle got home of course. Alice was just exiting her classroom when she caught a glimpse of pale blonde hair in the hallway. Her curiosity got the best of her and she glanced over her shoulder before making her way after it. She decided not to run, what good would that do? It would probably just gain her unwanted attention from her family. She thought a bunch of vampires following her wouldn't make Lexi more willing to talk.

when she got to the bathroom she tried to open the door as softly as possible. She was glad the door wasn't one of those annoying squeaky ones. She didn't want to sneak up on Lexi par say, but for some reason she felt like she should wait to make her presence known. Alice's boots hardly made a sound against the tile floor as she walked around the little corner in the bathroom. Confusion glowed on her face as she looked over the other girl, her icy blonde hair fell around her face and neck as she bent over the sink. Alice felt her heart swell as she looked at the clearly distressed girl and found herself wanting to comfort Lexi.

She had been lost in her thoughts until she heard a soft sound- no a cry. She knew she wouldn't have heard it if not for her heightened vampire abilities. She saw Lexi was now standing, she saw her lift her hand in the mirror, her fingers grazing under her eyes for some reason. Then she noticed Alice. she saw Lexi's face shift into a look of surprise and then worry as she continued to look at Alice's reflection in the mirror.

Deciding it was time to do something other than stand there, Alice walked over and turned off the sink, whispering the only thing that came to mind.

"Whats wrong..."

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**Alright I hope you liked that chapter! Coming up next is some Alice- Lexi friendship and the Cullen's family meeting :)**

**I'm going to make you guys a deal. If I get three replies with suggestions on what should happen next by Monday, I'll give you an extra long chapter the day after with one of your ideas in it! :-)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Ok, so I know that it's been a while since I last updated this story and I'm REALLY sorry about that. School picked up and then I just couldn't find time anymore... But now school's winding down and know I owe you guys bigtime for not updating this since March... **

**So here it is! little warning though, my muse is running dangerously low here so it may not be the best. You can help fix that though by posting reviews with questions, comments, suggestions, and I would just love it if you guys shot me a PM or post a review with any ideas you might have to help! :D**

**Review answers:**

**bindu95- Why thank you and I'm looking forward to that as well!**

**JazmynnMikaelson910- I'm sorry to you for the lateness. Hey! If you like the Originals BTW I have posted another story about them and would love it if you checked it out!**

**Demi3456- I'm glad you like it and I will :D**

**This is just a shout out to Justa1991 and Breaking Dawn21- Thanks so much for your constant reviews guys!**

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Lexi's mind was racing. Every inch of her was screaming with thirst. She was acutely aware of the beating hearts just out that door. Right outside. Her every thought was revolving around the warm red liquid that flowed through those teenagers' bodies. She needed it. _No! Just hold on a little longer! _The little voice of reason sang in her head. It wasn't until she felt a hand on her shoulder that she became aware of Alice again.

"Lexi?" the pixie like Cullen tried to get her attention Again. "Lexi, are you alright?" She asked, sounding concerned. Lexi blinked a few times and forced herself to nod, knowing Alice would keep trying for an answer until she gave her one. All of a sudden the door opened and Lexi's senses were flooded with the presence of the thing she craved. She took in a deep shaky breath and felt her fangs start to poke at her gums once more, demanding to be set free from their hiding spot. Blood red started to seep back into her eyes and she turned her head away from Alice again, but she was a second too late.

Alice's eyes widened in shock as she saw blood-red seem into the other girl's eyes. She only knew one creature that had crimson eyes. Vampire. A million different emotions swam through her, worry for Bella who had become such good friends with her, confusion because she hadn't foreseen another vampire coming, sadness that her eyes were red instead of golden, and determination to change that. Now that she wasn't worried about exposure, Alice didn't bother hiding her strength as she took her hands, lacing one on each side of the blonde's head and turned Lexi's face so she was looking at her again. SHe needed to be sure.

Normally Lexi would have found the strength to resist, but she was surprised at the strength the little pixie possessed. When she turned to Alice her eyes were a deep red, making the girl tension, but she had kept the veins under her eyes at bay for now. She started to turn away but Alice held her in place as she continued to look at her, but to Lexi's surprise she didn't look scared. She was just surprised. That's when she realised that there was something off about Alice right now. She was standing right in front of her and yet Lexi felt no blood craving urge to bite her. The vampire listened carefully and then muttered. "Oh my god, your pulse..." Though Alice knew what she ment. She knew she had no heartbeat.

Alice nodded slowly and then half asked, half demanded to know. "How long has it been?" As she moved her hands back to her side. She was still looking at Lexi's eyes. They were red, that much was clear, but it was different from what other human drinkers had. She waited for Lexi's reply but it never came, instead the blonde vampire just went back to the sink and turned it on again, trying to block out the noise. Alice caught her give a quick shake of her head, and figured that it was probably a bad sign. "Lexi, just calm down." She coached as she walked back over to her side again. She was mistaking the look of worry in her eyes for hunger.

Lexi noticed that Alice had placed herself nearby but still was keeping between her and the door. She would have found it amusing if not for the situation. After a moment or two she closed her eyes and listened to the hallway again, it was still inhabited but there weren't nearly as many kids there anymore. She might be able to make a run for it without hurting anyone...

"No!" Alice exclaimed suddenly, placing her hand on the starved vampire's arm as she came out of a vision. She had seen Lexi race out of the bathroom and into the hallway as soon as the girl had decided she would try to run for it. She thought she was going to find a human to drain, but to her utmost surprise Lexi choked out.

"If I don't go now... I'm going to hurt someone." She glanced at Alice's expression in the mirror and was confused for a minute. The pixie seemed surprised.

"You... Don't _want_ to hurt someone?" She asked slowly, shaking her head in confusion. She saw Lexi nod before taking a deep breath and speeding off in a blur. She took a moment to weigh her options before following. She got to the wooded area around the parking lot before loosing her trail and slowing to a stop. Alice wasn't sure what was going on with Lexi, but she knew she had to tell her family about it.

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Later that night at the Cullen's house Alice finally pulled up in the driveway. She had spent a good two hours out searching for Lexi and to her dismay hadn't found her or seen where she would go yet. She had sent her brother a text telling them to go home without her, and that she would be home soon. A glance at the driveway would show that they had listened to her, and that Bella was there, seeing as their cars were in the driveway. She quickly made her way inside and listened for her family before hurrying to the room. Everyone was gathered and talking already so she had to clear her throat to get their attention. Bella was the first to see her.

"Alice!" She said with a soft smile as she stood up and walked over, giving her a hug. The rest of the group just nodded a hello, and Esmé offered her a smile. Carlisle then stepped forward and said.

"Alright, now we can start." They had been waiting for Alice to come back before discussing the newest mystery. "Would one of you like to explain whats going on?" He asked. Bella was the first to start talking, as unusual as that was.

"Um, the new girl, Lexi." She prompted and from there Edward picked up where she left off.

"There is something off about her, Carlisle. I can't read her thoughts." he explained and Esmé and Carlisle both looked confused, worried even.

"Like Bella?" The father figure asked, just as his siblings had. Edward shook his head though and felt the need to once again explain that he wasn't completely blocked out of her mind, but he could only catch every two or three words that she thought. It was like trying to watch live TV during a thunderstorm. Every now and then an image would pop up on the screen, but then it would disappear again into a veil of white snow. Rosalie spoke when he was done.

"It was weird." She admitted. "Then later today I bumped into her in the halls, but she didn't even flinch." The others also shared their own imput about how they agreed that there was something off about her before Alice spoke up for the first time.

"She's a vampire." She said simply and all eyes were on her. She noted their stunned looks and shrugged before repeating herself. "She's a vampire." Carlisle took the lead in questioning Alice on her reasoning.

"That's quite an assumption, Alice." He pointed out, sceptical only to have Emmett point out "And her eyes were brown."

Alice shook her head once more, she was sure of what she had seen. "I know. I saw her afterschool today. She looked upset so I followed her, she ran to the bathroom so I wanted to make sure she was alright. When I got there she was all tense and figity, then I went over and her eyes..." She trailed off for a moment as she recalled the sight, her earlier confusion returning once more. "They were red. I figured she had to be a vampire once I got a better look, they were blood-red, Carlisle." All of them fell silent as they realised what that ment to the vampires. Bella then started to shake her head firmly.

"No. No, Alice you met her, she's not a murderer, you have to be able to see that." The human said firmly. Jasper frowned and muttered a response.

"You don't know what it feels like, Bella, the hunger can be overpowering." The other Cullens shot him knowing looks of agreement and sympathy. They all knew how hard it was, and Jasper was the newest to the animal diet. Alice though went on to say.

"Actually, I think Bella's right." Everyone was confused. Red eyes ment that she drank from humans, and it was impossible to not drain a human without turning them. "I had a vision of her running out of the bathroom around me, and I thought it ment she was going to go drain someone, so I tried to convince her to stay, but then she told me that if she stayed she would hurt someone. She was trying to get herself _away _from the blood, not the other way around." Now there were mixed looks on the family's face ranging from confusion to relief.

"But, wait, what about her eyes? You said they were red, and is everyone forgetting that they were brown this morning?" Rose pointed out with a frown. Alice frowned at her sister as she realised she was right about that. They had all seen Lexi before that and they certainly had been brown. Carlisle was the one to offer up a solution.

"She could have a gift." He said suddenly, gaining the attention. "That could explain why you didn't see her eyes as red until she was starving, as Alice said, and it only takes one or two drinks to change our eye color back to red. She might have just made a mistake recently if what you said about her preferences is true." All of them were silent for a minute as they thought this over, and accepted the new theory of Lexi being a vampire.

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The next day was a sunny one in Forks so the Cullens had to stay out of school. Most of them were upset by the fact, knowing this ment that they could not continue to explore the possibility that the new girl was like they were. Alice was the only one who was sure of it, but the others seemed to agree for the most part. At 4:00 Bella appeared at the Cullen home with news. The human girl went inside and was met by Alice and Edward. Her best friend gave her a hug and Edward kissed her forehead. Then Bella reported.

"Lexi wasn't in school today either." That was just one more thing that lead the group to believe she was what they had grown to think. A vampire couldn't risk exposure by going out in the sun. Alice smiled at Edward as if to say, 'told ya so'. Edward just rolled his eyes and said,

"It could be a coincidence. She might have gotten sick or something." Trying to keep Alice from jumping to conclusions. Suddenly they heard a new voice as Carlisle and Esmé both walked into the room.

"Invite her over then." Esmé said with a soft smile. "We can figure this out then, or she can get her parents involved." They had all assumed that she was probably not the only vampire there, considering she was just a teenager. "Either way I would like to meet the girl who managed to befriend my daughters." Bella, Alice and Edward all smiled at that, seeing as Esmé was already thinking of Bella as part of the family. Five minutes later Bella was on the phone talking to Lexi, who was saying she had gotten a bug, and arranged for her to come by the Cullen house Saturday so they could hang out and Lexi could catch up on the notes that she had missed in today's classes.

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**So there is chapter six! I hope you guys liked it, like I said I'm having a bit of writers block so it's not the best but I promise to get better. :-)**

**Please leave a review, they really help me out and encourage me to update quicker! If you have any questions I will answer them in the authors note, I would love some suggestions or ideas of what you think could happen in the story, and constructive criticism is fantastic help!**

**Thanks,**

**Miss Mystic**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi again! SO I hope you like this next chapter guys :)**

**Reviews:**

**Justa- Thanks so much! I'm looking forward to writting that part too.**

**Breaking Dawn- I'm glad you like it and hope you enjoy whats to come :)**

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The next day started pretty normally for a Saturday- weather wise anyway. dark clouds hung overhead with the threat of rain inside Them. Bella had arrived at the Cullen house about half an hour ago and Carlisle had the day off so everyone was at home waiting to meet, or remeet the blonde haired mystery girl. The group had agreed that they would try and get her to admit what she was or at least wait until they had seen some signs that Alice was right before confronting Lexi about all of the vampire things.

Edward was naturally sticking close to Bella, worried for her sake. Alice had said Lexi was having trouble controlling herself so naturally he didn't like the idea of her with Bella. If it was up to him, Bella would be at her house while they met Lexi here. Suddenly Alice trotted down the stairs smiling. She walked over to Bella and took her hand, leading her towards the door. "She's almost here!" The physic explained cheerfully. Edward stood ad started towards them but Alice shook her head. "No, Edward, you'll scare her away." She said with a frown. Edward opened his mouth to object but Bella gave him a look and he sighed, staying quiet and sitting back down. Alice smiled at the success and continued to pull Bella towards the door.

Just as they got to the door, Lexi walked up to the driveway. She was dressed in a pair of black jeans, a tight but slimming grey tank and had a stylish white jacket thrown overtop. She had a messenger bag thrown over her shoulder and was looking at the Cullen house in surprise and amazement. Bella smiled, remembering the first time she had seen the beautiful home and opened the door, walking over to Lexi. "Hey." She greeted and the vampire turned to look at her, giving a kind smile.

"Hey." She replied, walking to meet her at the steps. She turned to look at the house again and after a moment realised she was being rude. "Uh, sorry. It's just this house is so..." She shook her head a bit in amazement and half heartedly gestured to it with a free hand. Bella laughed a little and looked over at her family's home with a smile. She nodded in understatement and Lexi was glad she wasn't going to have to try to explain herself further.

"Yeah I know, just wait until you see the inside." With that Bella started to lead her towards the door. "The Cullen's house is amazing." At the sound of the Cullens' name Lexi remembered two things. First, she wasn't sure some of them were not human and might have to be invited in, and Second, Alice Cullen had caught her yesterday when she was low on 'fuel'. Her mind was racing as she tried to think of a way out of this fast approaching problem. She decided to just deal with the easier one first. WHen they reached the doorway she stopped and watched Bella walk over the threshold. She shifted from foot to foot and then asked.

"Are you sure the Cullens are alright with me coming over?" She made her voice sound weary and nervous. Bella nodded and opened her mouth to say something but someone else beat her to it. The twinkling voice of the pixie- Cullen came flowing to the two girls from where she had stood nearby.

"Of course we are!" She chimed, walking to stand beside Bella once more. "Come on in, Lexi." She invited and the vampire hesitated for only a second before stepping through the doorway. She looked over at Alice and nodded to her in greeting.

"Alice, nice to see you." She said with a small smile. The Pixie smiled and nodded back before taking a few steps forward and giving Lexi a hug, to the surprise of the blonde haired girl. She had expected an interrogation, not this. After a moment of hesitation though and a shrug from Bella she returned the hug. Alice was smiling happily when she pulled away a moment later, a knowing gleam in her eyes. Lexi seemed confused but other than that she wasn't really irritated about the hug.

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About half an hour later Bella and Lexi were sitting on stools in the kitchen studying when Esme and Carlisle walked in. The couple smiled when they heard the two laughing, it was a sound they didn't get to hear to often. When Bella noticed the two she stifled her laughter and Lexi followed her lead. Lexi stood up, frowning a bit as she realised two things. First was that this was clearly the Cullen kid's parents and second was that she knew one of them. His hair was shorter and lighter, but she was positive it was him. Bella, oblivious to the look of surprise on her friend's face and the similar look of de-ja-vous on Carlisle's face, went ahead with introductions.

"Lexi, this is Esmé and Carlisle Cullen." She explained and Lexi forced herself to look away from Carlisle and walk over to the two. She extended her hand to shake, which Esmé and he both took.

"It's nice to meet you Mrs. and Mr. Cullen." She said politely. Esmé laughed a bit as she spoke and then gently corrected the girl.

"Esmé." She said, meaning for Lexi to refer to her that way. The teenager nodded after a moment in agreement, making a mental note to call her by her first name from then on. Then Esmé went on to explain why the two had come in. "Um, Lexi, Carlisle and I were wondering when your parents were expecting you back home." She said curiously. Lexi frowned in confusion.

"My parents?" She asked and the woman nodded in confirmation. "They don't care when I get home." She informed with a soft shrug. Lexi of course was lying, she had lived alone for over two hundred years now. Carlisle nodded and then curiously asked.

"Where did you live before Forks, if you don't mind me asking?" As Lexi and Bella went back to their seats. everyone was looking at Lexi now, waiting curiously for her answer. Lexi shook her head and said.

"I don't mind. I used to live in Chicago." She informed with a slight smile as she slid her jacket off and hung it on the back of her chair. "It was nice."

All three exchanged a look. Chicago wasn't the type of place that a vampire would live. It was to sunny, and exposure would surely come quickly. Bella figured she was just lying about where she had lived before she had come here. She understood why but still felt a pang of hurt as she realised Lexi was lying to her. Carlisle and his wife also knew that she might be lying but they knew that there was another option. She might be telling the truth, but that would mean that she was a newborn. For once, the two hoped that they were being lied to, because they didn't like the idea of having a human drinking, highly volatile newborn around.

"That's a big change, what would make a city girl like you want to move to a small town like Forks?" Bella asked, trying to learn something new about her friend. Lexi frowned, but not at Bella. Her gaze saddened a bit and she paused in her movements for one quick moment before carrying on with what she had been doing. She slid into her seat and thought over the question. To Bella it had looked like she had just paused to collect her thoughts, she herself knew that the question could have many answers. Carlisle and Esmé though could see much better than Bella and they noticed way her every muscle tensioned and she took a sharp involuntary breath at Bella's curiousness. The blonde teenager's eyes clouded with an emotion that Esmé herself knew all to well. Grief. The motherly woman walked over to Lexi and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder making Lexi look up at her, with a glimpse of confusion. The woman just smiled softly in encouragement and slowly but surely, Lexi opened up. She didn't know why but she felt like she could trust these people, and Esme's silent presence next to her gave her the courage to admit it.

"Someone very close to me..." There was a moment of hesitation in her voice when she tried to find the right word. "Passed away. I figured it was time for a change." She finally told them. Esmé smiled a bit, a sad smile, but a smile none the less. For some reason she felt a sense of pride when Lexi finally got the words out. She knew how strong you had to be to accept something like that especially if it had happened as recently as she claimed. Esmé herself hadn't been able to talk about the loss of her baby for a very long time.

Bella nodded and muttered. "Oh... I'm sorry for your loss." Lexi gave her a nod in return and offered a weak, empty smile as she tried to push away the sad memories. All of a sudden Lexi's phone chimed and she pulled it out of her jean's pockets with a soft apology to the others. Her fingers skimmed over the screen as she opened the text. She read it and a moment later started to stand.

"I'm sorry, I have to go." She said, sounding apologetic once more as she picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulder. "It was nice meeting you Esme, Dr. Cullen." She said, but Carlisle noticed that she seemed to avoid his gaze, and felt that similar feeling that he knew her. He pushed it away and just nodded at her. Then she thanked Bella for giving her the notes she needed, and went towards the door. She was already gone when Bella noticed that her jacket was still laying on the chair.

"Oh," She muttered as she picked it up. Then she ran towards the door and spotted Lexi across the road, walking away. "Lexi!" She called as she started to run towards her in attempt to catch up. In her haste she didn't notice the car that was speedily making its way down the road or hear Alice's fear filled voice calling out from the stairs inside the house.

The next thing heard was the blaring of a car horn and Lexi calling her name.

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**DUN- DUN- DUHHH! Lol I hope you liked that chapter :)**

**Please review with questions, comments, thoughts, suggestions, etc. **

**Thanks, **

**Miss Mystic**


	8. Chapter 8

**I'm glad you guys seemed to like the last chapter :)**

**Reviews::**

**Justa1991- Thanks! Lexi is 354 years old and looks 19 years old in this fic, but you'll find out why I said 200 later on**

**Breaking Dawn21- I will, and could you be a little more specific?**

**HuddyBuddy- I will :)**

**Ryaaaaann- I know right! Lexi's such an amazing character and deserves much more attention in my opinion. I'm glad you like it!**

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Previously...

_In her haste she didn't notice the car that was speedily making its way down the road or hear Alice's fear filled voice calling out from the stairs inside the house. _

_The next thing heard was the blaring of a car horn and Lexi calling her name. _

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All at once Bella realized what had happened. It seemed like time sped up in the three seconds of action that came next. The car was fast approaching and soon it was close enough for her to see the spots of chipped paint on the hood.

Then she felt impact.

A cool hard surface hit her side with great force, but surprisingly enough it didn't hurt. She felt herself falling and landed on her side with a soft cry as she felt gravel rip into her arm. Then she was rolling on the ground, into the dew ridden grass of the Cullen's lawn.

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Lexi didn't take a second to think about what she was about to do before it happened. She saw the car as soon as she turned around, and then she saw Bella Running towards the street. Her eyes widened as she called. "Bella! stop!" she was loud enough for her to hear her but the girl kept running, not seeing the automobile.

In the next second she took in three things. First was that Alice, the only Cullen she knew to be a vampire, was to far away to get to Bella in time even with her speed. The second was that Esmé and Carlisle were still by the door and now Edward was there as well, So she would by causing exposure if she bothered to help Bella. The third thing was simple, she didn't care. She knew she couldn't just watch as someone died, so if that ment proving Alice right so be it.

She felt the wind snap at her hair as she darted over towards the car. She heard Bella gasp, and noticed that the human girl was squeezing her eyes shut. The moment before the bumper made contact with her friend she got there with her amazing speed. She grabbed Bella and started to scoop her up so she could carry her as she moved but the car had found a new mark.

Lexi let out a pain filled gasp as the car made contact with her side. She felt at least two bones snap. The jolt send the vampire and human in her arms to the ground on the side of the road. She and Bella rolled for a moment in the gravel at the side of the road before Lexi stopped and Bella landed in the grass a few feet behind her. She closed her eyes and let out a shaky breath as the pain in her side made itself known. The vampire heard someone talking but she wasn't paying attention to what was being said. She felt her bones starting to mend themselves together again and painfully got to her feet while they fixed themselves, it wasn't the less painful of her two options but she wanted to make sure Bella was alright. A second later she blurred to Bella's side. The teenager had her eyes closed, so Lexi brought one of her hands to the girl's ear and snapped her finger a few times.

"Stay awake, sleeping beauty." She instructed when Bella's chocolate brow eyes blinked open in surprise. Lexi knew she had taken the blunt of the crash but their fall hadn't exactly been graceful. She was helping Bella sit up as she called. "Dr. Cullen, I need some help over here." a moment later her blonde hair flew up in a breeze as Carlisle used him vampire speed to get over to the girls. As soon as he started to work Lexi scooted backwards and laid down on her back so she could heal.

Even though her eyes were closed she heard what was going on. Bella was being helped by Carlisle and Edward had raced to her side as soon as Lexi left. Lexi heard one bone snap into place again and squeezed her eyes shut tighter. It didn't matter how old you were, or how many times you went through it. Feeling your broken bones move and snap together again was one of the most painful things in the world. Lexi resisted the urge to groan and instead just let out a shaky breath. That seemed to get Bella's attention, and Esme's. Lexi felt another breeze and then a familiar stone cold hand found its way to her own frigid skin. To her surprise though, it wasn't the motherly vampire's.

"Lexi what's going on?" Alice's small twinkling voice asked worriedly. Lexi blinked open her eyes and muttered.

"I just got hit by a car, Alice." As if that would explain everything. When she noticed that Alice just looked confused she gave her hand a soft squeeze and muttered under her breath, "I just broke a bone or two, I'll be ok in a minute." The teenager looked down at Lexi's side and her eyes widened in shock.

"Carlisle!" she called to her father as Lexi sat up and rubbed her head a bit as her last bone snapped back into place and weaved itself together. The next thing the blonde vampire knew there was a slight breeze and the blonde Cullen was crouching next to her beside Alice. Lexi's warm brown eyes became guarded and she tensioned a bit as she had done inside the house a few hours ago. Carlisle didn't seem to notice though, just Alice and Esmé.

"Your bleeding." He said sounding shocked. Lexi looked down at her side and for the first time noticed the blood staining her grey shirt. She sighed in irritation and winced a bit as she sat up straighter. She saw Rosalie coming outside with another guy, Emmett, out of the corner of her eye but payed them no mind. Carlisle was coming out of his moment of shock and realized that he needed to help Lexi. He nodded towards the blood stained part of the top "Let me take a look."

Lexi frowned a little but didn't say anything and instead simply rolled the bottom of her top up a bit so he could see the wound. She herself glanced down to take a look and saw two short but deep gashes in her flesh. Bella must have seen because her eyes widened again. She turned to Edward and muttered. "I didn't know Vampires could get hurt..." under her breath. Lexi replied even though she hadn't been the one Bella was talking to.

"I'm undead, not Bulletproof, Bella." Esmé walked over to sit next to Carlisle as he inspected the wound. The motherly woman cocked her head and said.

"but you should be..." Earning a confused look from Lexi, and then understanding flickered through her eyes.

"Cold ones..." She whispered under her breath, "All of you..." She sounded shocked and mildly frightened. Suddenly she turned to look at the wound again as she felt it start to heal. All of the Cullens as well as Bella looked utterly shocked. Before they could ask any questions there was a burst of air and Lexi was zooming in Bella's direction. Bella felt the white jacket she had been trying to give back to Lexi being pulled from her hands before Lexi took off in a blur again. less than a second later another blur raced towards the first and knocked her into a tree. Lexi let out a grunt of pain as her head flung back and hit the tree behind her. She looked up to see Rosalie standing a few feet away, frowning at her. Lexi stood straight again and tried to run off once more but Rose blocked her again. By this point all Lexi wanted to do was get away. Her every instinct screamed at her to run and not stop until the cold ones were as far from her as possible. She liked to consider herself civil enough to give a warning though. "Get out of my way." She hissed, sending a glare towards the blonde cold one

Rosalie just returned the glare and stayed put. Alice could see that a fight was about to break out and decided to but in. "Rosalie, don't." She warned but Rosalie just ignored her, still thinking that she was a threat. Lexi started to make a move towards her when she heard a second voice. Bella's.

"Lexi!" The vampire tear her gaze away from Rose and looked over at Bella who continued to talk once she saw Lexi was listening. "Don't. They just want to talk." She said, getting to her feet and taking a step towards the strange new vampire despite Edward's hand on her arm. Each of the Cullens waited in silence as the vampire paused to make up her mind.

"Cold ones aren't company I tend to keep, Bella." She finally said, turning her eyes back to the Cullen kids. Bella frowned and said,

"You didn't know? Couldn't you catch their sent?" Lexi shook her head no and muttered under her breath. Bella decided to try something else. "How about you just give us five minutes?" Lexi looked skeptical and she tried again. "Five questions then. Just sit down and let us ask five questions." Lexi bit the inside of her lip and thought again. Then she dropped her defensive pose and nodded.

"Fast." She said as her way of agreeing. "And I get five of my own." Bella glanced around at the group and they all seemed to be alright with that. Alice decided to ask the first question. "What are you?" She asked softly.

Lexi raised a brow in question but answered all the same. "I am a vampire. A different kind." She said simply and Alice nodded slowly and opened her mouth to ask another question but Lexi stopped her before she could by asking her own question.

"How old are all of you, Actually." They all exchanged glances, this was going to be a strange day.

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**I know that was a weird place to cut it off but I wanted to save some of the questionnaire for next chapter...**

**Well I hope you like it, please review!**

**thanks, **

**Miss Mystic.**


	9. Chapter 9

The Cullens were silent as each of them looked around at the other, waiting for someone else to answer. Finally Carlisle replied. "Edward and Alice were born in 1901, Esme in 1895, Emmett and Rosalie in 1915, Jasper in 1844, and I in the 1640s." He answers and the family bobs their head in nods of agreement.

Lexi frowns and cocked her head as she looked over the group of cold ones. "Your all hardly past your first century." she muttered under her breath sounding surprised. She was pulled out of her thoughts as Rosalie asked her a question.

"How old are you then?" She quipped, crossing her arms.

Lexi looked over at the other blonde haired vampire And then answered. "Just Three hundred and..." She frowned as she did some mental math. "fifty six give or take a year or two." she finished and watched as some of their faces turned to shock. Then Emmett suddenly realised.

"Wait, you were born in the 1600's?" Lexi raised an eyebrow and then asked.

"Was that a question or statement?" Before smirking a little despite the situation and pointing out. "You only have 3 questions left." Carlisle was looking at Lexi with great interest now. He was begining to notice, as Esmé and Alice had, that Lexi was trying to avoid looking at him. That made him think for a moment, she had lived as a human in the same time period as he had and again he felt that similar sence of de-ja-vous when he looked at her. Suddenly he asked.

"Did you know me?" There was a pause where Lexi bit her lip. She swallowed the rising emotions in her throat and just gave a quick nod. Then she muttered,

"Technically we're related." Still not looking at him. The group's eyes widened in shock but as they looked at Carlisle and Lexi they could see the similarities. They both had icy light blonde hair, high well defined cheekbones and soft rounded chins.

"How?" Edward asked shocked as he looked between the two. Lexi ignored him and looked over at Alice instead.

"You all live together?" she asked wanting to change topic. Alice seemed to sense that and obliged By answering.

"Yes." She replied then asked the question that they had all wanted to know but had forgotten about during the mess. "Do you... What do you drink?" Her voice was suddenly small and weary as if she knew she wouldn't like the answer. Lexi raised a brow and asked.

"You mean the blood?" When Alice nodded Lexi shrugged a bit as if it was a basic, simple question. "Uh, human blood of Course." she said thinking it was obvious. The Cullen's expressions fell into looks of pity and disgust. Lexi just frowned in confusion. "What?" she asked with a shrug before remembering that Cold one's would send a human into transition with a bite. She then added in "I don't kill anyone, I can stop and trigering transition is more complicated than just a bite on my side. I mostly use blood bags." she informed. The Cullens exchanged looks and then Carlisle asked.

"What about animals?" Even if he hadn't always known it, and still didn't know how, this little blonde haired vampire was his family. That meant that he needed to look out for her, and this was what he thought was best. Lexi frowned in confusion.

"Animals?" She wrinkled her nose a bit in disgust. "Well its... Possible, but why would I want to drink from animals?" She knew a vampire, Stefan Salvator was his name, that drank from animals. She herself had done it out of necessity once or twice, but she couldn't understand why she would want to do it. She knew that Stefan had to because of his Ripper tendencies, but she had complete control over her blood lust. Animal blood tasted horrible in her opinion, and so she couldn't imagine choosing to live off of it. She had a high respect for human life, and so once again she didn't see a reason to alter her diet.

Esmé sighed sadly as she listen to the blonde vampire. If she had learned anything in the past hour it was that Lexi was a very complicated vampire. If she didn't understand it then this conversation would take a lot longer than Lexi had agreed to stay. So instead of pressing the topic like some of her family clearly wanted to she went on to the next question she had. "Can we meet your parents?"

Lexi cocked her head and then quickly and courtly replied with a simple, "No." Bella frowned and opened her mouth to say something, probably ask why not, but Rosalie beat her to the punch. The blonde haired Cullen girl had begun to snap out something to Lexi when she was interrupted by Lexi herself. "My mother died in 1670 and my father passed the year before I changed." She explained speedily, sending the Cullen children into stunned silence. Once more Esmé spoke up, this time her voice was soft and sympathetic.

"I'm sorry for your loss... Who takes care of you then?" She asked sounding even to herself undeniably confused. Her confusion quickly turned to shock when Lexi gave her an answer.

"I do." each of the cold ones and Bella were trying to imagine how this girl had spent over 350 years of existing all alone. Bella suddenly realized that she could have had sisters and brothers that she lived with, but that thought was quickly forgotten when she realized that if that was the case then Lexi would have joined school with a younger looking vampire in tow. She opened her mouth to ask Lexi but was stopped by Lexi's own question.

"Do you actually glitter?" It took the brunette human several moments to realize that this question was not aimed at her, as Alice gave a nod. Normally she would have smiled at the prospect of sharing this information but she along with the others seemed just as shell shocked by Lexi's announcement. The later of the two smirked a bit and glanced over at Edward, Emmett and Jasper. "That must be an ego bruiser." She quipped before shrugging her jacket back on instead of holding it. She glanced down at her still blood stained shirt and muttered something under her breath about getting a new one before glancing up again when yet another question was shot her way by Carlisle.

"Who were your parents?" he asked as he tried to root through his long forgotten maze of memories from his human years for her face. Lexi just shook her head no and said.

"I said I'd answer five, and I gave you six." she informed, and turned to go. She sped over to the sidewalk and scooped up her bag again. Alice was next to her in a second, she placed a hand on the girl's shoulder and frowned questionably.

"Need a ride?" She asked and Lexi shook her head no immediately, as she rudely shook off the girl's hand. "You may be nice, but your still a cold one." she muttered under her breath. Alice felt a twinge of hurt but she shook it off, knowing Lexi was just trying to look out for herself. The vampire started to leave; zooming across the yard before a single word disrupted her escape for the third time.

"Alexia!" She stopped in her tracks and turned slightly to look at the owner of the voice. Carlisle saw that he had gotten her attention and looked into the girl's face when she turned. Slowly he nodded and the rest of the Cullens watched as recignition drifted into his golden eyes. "Alexia Branson... You were my..." He paused for a moment trying to capture the flittering thoughts he desired. "My sister's little girl." He finally said and then waited a moment for her reaction, Lexi just turned to face them yet again. She didn't say anything to confirm of discredit his claim, and Bella took the lead as Carlisle took in this new information.

"You remember your human life after so long?" She asked surprised. From what the Cullens had told her, your memories fade with time. Lexi glanced over at the human and nodded.

"Some things just can't be bleached from the mind, Bella." She admitted before glancing over at the rest of the Cullen kids and adults and moving her gaze back to Bella. "Be careful, alright?" She prompted and Bella frowned in confusion but nodded all the same. With that, Lexi disappeared in a blur of inhuman speed.

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**Hey just to let you guys know, I changed up some of the dates with Lexi and Carlisle. In _this_ story, Lexi looks like she's 18 years old(but is really 16), was born in 1657 and was changed in 1673. Carlisle is 30 instead of 22, was born in 1640, and changed in 1670. Thanks for reading!**


	10. Chapter 10

Despite the worry and commotion the fast growing maze of questions that had grown in the Cullens and Bella's minds, th world spun on and the weekend drew to a close. Soon enough Monday came again and they all had to go back to school. Today, to Bella's distaste, it was raining cats and dogs outside. You would think she would have been used to it by now, but she still felt a now familiar twinge of irritation at the sound of raindrops hitting her roof. She got out of bed and pulled on some clothes, her typical old jeans, plad shirt combo. Then she made her way downstairs to the kitchen. She said her hello to Charlie, grabbed something quick to eat and then plucked her light brown colored jacket from it's place on the hanger and started out the door. She pulled the hood over her head and made a dash for her car, trying to get their with at least part of her body dry from the rain.

When she got to school she hung out in her truck for a while as she waited for either the Cullens or the Bell. Her plans to keep out of the rain were disrupted when she spotted a head of icy blonde hair in the crowd of teenagers seaking shelter. She Bit her lip and weighed her options, she could ignore it or she could go out in the rain to talk to Lexi. She sighed and reached for the door handle when she realised something. _Lexi's a vampire, she'll be able to hear me! _With that she took in a breath and decided to test her theory.

"Lexi?" She whispered. The blonde head didn't move. Bella was starting to feel a little foolish but tried again anyway, a little louder this time. "Lexi,"

Sure enough, the teenager turned around and scanned the parking lot for a moment before spotting Bella and letting a grin slip onto her plump red lips. She pointed at herself and then cocked her head and raised a hrow questioningly as if asking 'me?' Bella couldn't help but roll her eyes at the girl's dramatics, but she was smiling as well. She nodded and motioned for her to come over. Lexi paused and took a moment to glance around before walking to the edge of her rainfree shelter before running as fast as her human speed would let her to the car and opening the door, climbing in as quickly as she could.

"Ah!" She muttered as she ran a hand through her hair, shaking some stray raindrops from it. "When they say storm they _really_ mean storm don't they?" She commented. Bella smiled again despite herself and nodded in confirmation.

"Yeah they do." she agreed, knowing that she had been thinking the same thing earlier that morning.

"I have to admit you surprised me there, Bella. I figured you'd be avoiding me like the plague by now." The vampire said with a good natured smile, as if she were mildly amused. "Then again, you seem to have a way of finding trouble."

Bella shifted suddenly nervous. "Are you saying I have a reason to be?" She asked wearily and Lexi laughed a bit.

"Of course not." She said but noted how the Swan girl's nervousness didn't go away so she sighed softly, laughter gone and said. "Ok." and shifted her bag onto her lap. the vampire reached in and removed a small box. It looked to be about 4 inches long by 5 inches wide. "Here." she said, holding it out to Bella. The human looked at the box cautiously before taking it with gentle hands. She lifted the lid to reveal a cluster of long stemmed, purple flowered plants.

"What is it?" Bella asked confused. Lexi's eyes were trained on the plant as she answered.

"Vervain. Its a plant that weakens vampires, and prevents compulsion." She explained. Bella stared at the plant as well, admiring the pretty purple blooms.

"Compulsion?" She asked, not understanding the word. "What's that?" Lexi clicked her tongue and thought of a good way to describe it.

"Well... Think of it as mind control." she finally said. Bella's eyes widened in surprise And maybe even a slight twinge of fear.

"Mind control." Bella repeated, not hiding her surprise. "You can do that?" She asked.

Lexi smirked a bit slyly. "Of course I can." she claimed cheekily. Then Bella asked her another question.

"Have you ever used it on me?"

Lexi imediately shook her head no. "I don't use it unless I need to." she said before truthfully adding. "Or if I need something to drink at the bar, being 350 years old has it's disadvantages- I can't exactly show them my ID." Bella cracked a smile for a mere moment before it faded and she asked another question.

"Even Edward?" She asked remembering what Lexi had said about them being different types of vampires. Lexi sighed and shook her head no.

"I said _Vampires _not Cold Ones, Bella." She stated, her tone instantly changing from casual to irritated at the mention of the other kind of vampires. Bella frowned but nodded turning her attention back towards the flowers. The two sat in silence for a moment before she glanced up and saw the Cullens standing off to the side of the crowd. She noticed after a moment how they weren't talking, and frowned in confusion before she made eye contact with Rosalie and understood. They were listening, and they wanted to learn more, and Bella was the only person Lexi seemed to want to talk to. Her eyes widened a bit and she glanced over at Lexi, seeing that she was looking thoughtfully out of the window, before turning back to them and sending the blonde Cullen girl a 'are you kidding?' look. Rosalie shook her head no and made a shooing motion before turning away again.

Bella bit her lip and looked back over at Lexi, silently scolding herself before she finally got up the nerve to start talking again. "So... This plant, what do you want me to do with it?" She decided to ask. Lexi turned to look at her again, shaking her head a little to clear it before responding.

"Well, um, there are three ways to use vervain on vampires." She started slowly, glancing at the box. "As long as you have it on you, vampires can't compel you. I used to put it in a locket of mine when I was still human." The teenager explained, brushing some hair from her face. "You can also put it in food, drinks, to stop compulsion." She said. Bella nodded picking up one of the plant and holding it out in front of her with interest.

"What else can it do, you said three things." Bella pointed out before Lexi nodded and moved on again.

"I did. It weakens us." She stated next. "It burns and blisters at the touch, and if we ingest it, it burns us from the inside." Her voice had a monotonous edge to it for a moment but she cleared her throat and focused again. "And if its injected into our blood stream, then it can knock us unconscious for extended periods of time." Bella frowned almost sadly before asking another question.

"Uh, at the Cullen's place, after you saved me, your side..." She trailed off questioningly and Lexi started nodding, slowly she lifted her shift a bit, just enough so Bella could get a look at where the cut had been. Bella had seen it heal but she was still shocked that there was no injury to be seen. A moment later Lexi let the fabric fall back into place.

"My blood has healing properties." She shifted and held out her hand towards Bella. The human frowned in confusion for a moment before remembering what she had said about the flower burning her. She reached out and slowly pressed the flower to her hand, giving Lexi time to pull away before she did so. There was a sound of sizzling sound, and Lexi winced, closing her eyes before finally pulling her hand away. Bella gasped as she saw the hideous looking group of red third degree burns. She knew what they looked like, because being the klutz that she was, she had gotten plenty of those in them in the kitchen. "Just watch, its fine" Lexi whispered under her breath, nodding to her hand. A second later the blister faded into light pink skin and then that faded into normal skin. "See, as my blood started to circulate through my hand, it finds the wound and fixes it." She explained and Bella nodded.

"Wow..." She whispered. Then looked up at Lexi. "Does it work with humans...?" she asked softly. She could practically see the curious look on the Cullen's faces as she asked. Lexi then nodded. "Yes." She said simply. "But there is a risk to it." She was cut off as the bell rang. The girl sighed and started to grab her bag, reaching towards the door. "Looks like the chit-chat is over." She said softly. She reached for the handle of the car and stated to open the door before she felt a hand grab her arm. She looked over at the human and cocked her head in question before Bella asked her final question.

"Why do you hate the Cullens so much?"


	11. Chapter 11

There was an elongated silence in the car where the two girls just stared at each other. Finally Lexi closed the door and turned towards her friend. "They are few people in the world that are worthy of hate, Bella." she started slowly, Weighing her words carefully.

The Cullens had started getting their stuff together but were trying to do so slowly so they could hear most of the conversation.

Lexi brushed a strand of hair away from her face and pulled the thick blonde braid that the rest of it hung in over her shoulder. She sighed a bit and then stopped talking, shaking her head. "I don't hate them." She finally said, "but I do hate _him_." The blonde haired vampire state and Bella frowned.

"Who? Carlisle? He's your uncle, Lexi." She tried to reason with her but Lexi shook her head once more. For an instant Bella thought she saw a flicker of guilt in the vampire's eyes but it was gone so quickly that she couldn't be sure.

"No." She started, making Bella frown in confusion before Lexi rushed on in her story, noticing her slip up. "he lost that right quite a while ago." She claimed before correcting herself. "Or I did rather, if your looking from the otherside of the story." she shrugged casually but her eyes were filled with sadness.

"What do you mean? How?" Bella asked, confused. Lexi gave her a skeptical glance.

"There is no way I'm telling that story sobber." She muttered with a dry laugh, and Bella frowned gently.

"That bad?" She asked, surprised. She couldn't imagine Carlisle of all people bringing one person so much pain. Lexi shrugged softly and reached for her bag once more.

"Well the great thing about the past is you can leave it behind you." She explained and Bella looked at her curiously.

"But you said the other day that some things never leave you." The human pointed out, beginning to grab her things As well. Lexi nodded in agreement with what she said and spoke up again.

"Yeah, well I'm a big believer in forgive but don't forget. she started, looking over at Bella who watched and listened curiously. Her curiosity quickly turned into surprise when Lexi asked her next question. "What would you do with an eternity, Bella?"

The brunette frowned, thinking she had heard wrong. "What would I do?" she asked, and Lexi just nodded, a mildly curious look on her round facial features. Bella frowned, thinking the question was quite random.

"Yeah. If you had forever, what would you do with it?" the blonde vamp asked again. When once again, Bella remained quiet, the vampire continued. "Hard question right?" She smiled gently and Bella couldn't help but return it as she slowly nodded in agreement. The cullens, who were still listening in were pleasantly surprised to hear Bella say.

"I don't know what I'd do, I never though about it that way." What would she do if she had that much time? When would she get bored with having forever? It was something she hadn't though about when she had started to ask the Cullen family to turn her.

The blonde haired teenager continued talking, her tone surprisingly casual. "I remember a certain Carlisle Cullen asked me that once." She admitted. The Cullens had turned a bit to look over at them, amazed and curious to hear her finish.

"What do you mean? I don't understand, he came to see you after he had been turned?" She asked, completely confused. Lexi broke into one of her signature half-grins, though sadness was hidden beneath it.

"Yes and no. He mistook me for someone else, and I wasn't to excited to see him so it's actually a long story." She admitted before adding. "And its not the point. The point is that when you have as much time as a vampire does you can do a lot with it." Bella stayed silent this time and just waited for her to finish. "There are so many things I could be doing now instead, so many people I could be helping, places I can see now." She explained and Bella slowly nodded before she spoke up about something she had noticed.

"You talk about vampirism as if it was a good thing." she pointed out, though her statement sounded more like a question to those listening.

Lexi cocked her head a bit and let a knowing smile creep onto her lips. "That's because it can be- anything can be. It just takes a little work." She admitted.

"You aren't treating the Cullens like they're a good thing." Bella muttered hesitantly. She wasn't sure where she was getting the courage to talk to Lexi like that was coming from, but to her relief Lexi didn't seem to be bothered by her bluntness.

The fair haired vampire just sat there for a moment before saying. "Your right. I haven't, but they're dangerous-"

"And you aren't?" Bella cut her off before sheepishly looking down. Lexi smiled a bit at her human friend before grabbing her bag and reaching for the handle to the door again.

"Touché." Just like that all the previous seriousness that she had held was gone, leaving only the lighthearted, teenager behind. "So you wana try and make first period?" She suggested.

Bella nodded slowly and got out of the car, sliding the box of vervain into her backpack. Then she got out of the car with her friend. They started walking towards the school, and Bella chuckled under her breath. Lexi glanced over at her curiously and smiled, raising a brow in question.

"What are you chuckling at?" She asked. Bella just shrugged before admitting.

"Nothing. Its just I didn't think someone like you would be so excited to get to school." she admitted. Lexi smiled slyly.

"'Someone like me'?" She asked jokingly, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Bella blushed like crazy, thinking that she might have said something wrong. She started to stutter an apology. "Oh, I didn't mean it like, I wasn't trying to offend-" She was cut off by one of Lexi's laughs, it surprised both Bella and the Cullen kids who were walking along with the few kids who were still left outside. Alice even glanced over her shoulder at the two of them.

Lexi's eyes twinkled with something like mischief as she said. "Don't worry, Bella. The only thing offending is the fact that the Cullens didn't have the guts to talk to me their selves." Bella's eyes widened in surprise at her bluntness, but noted that she sounded more amused than anything else. Lexi picked up the pace a bit and Bella followed suit. A moment later, they were caught up to the slightly guilty, but mostly shocked looking group of Cullens. Lexi raised a brow, and smirked, Knowing full well that they could hear her earlier. "Have a nice day, Bella." she chimed.

She started to turn away, but she caught Bella's eye and noticed a flicker of pleading in them so she paused. "Lexi..." Bella muttered, the pleading look growing Ever so slightly.

Finally the blonde let out a slight sigh and turned towards the others, specifically Alice. "Thank you." she finally said and Bella looked pleased that she was talking to the cold ones. "For helping me the other day, I hadn't had time to get-" she glanced at the students around them and lowered her voice to the point where only they could here her. "much blood while moving in and with everything going on." Alice was smiling, happy that Lexi seemed to be at least on speaking terms with her again.

"Of course." she said good-naturedly. Then the pixie like girl surprised everyone, especially Lexi who still didn't know about Alice's powers, by saying. "I know we'll be great friends one day."

Edward slowly turned towards his sister and asked. "Alice... Did you _see_ something?"

Alice nodded but dismissed him before he could ask questions and then turned back to Lexi. "Your going to stop by tonight aren't you?" She asked and the Cullens watched with slight amusement as a look of surprise and confusion spread across Lexi's face.

"Uh, I- no, but, um- wait," By now not even Rosalie could keep away the small curve of her lips that formed a smile. Emmett even chuckled a bit at the flustered vampire. Lexi paused for a moment before pointing a finger at Alice and finishig with. "How?" (**A/N That reminds me of when she first sees Elena in the show**).

Bella giggled a bit and Alice did too before the pixie-like girl spoke up. "You don't like surprises do you, Alexia?"

Lexi cocked her head ever so slightly and instead of replying she asked "What did you say?"

Alice shifted, worried that she had said something wrong, she knew exactly what the other girl was talking about though. "Alexia... I thought that was your name..." She said almost questioningly.

After a moment she nodded. "Yeah it is, sorry I thought you said, um, something else." she muttered before giving a soft wave as a goodbye to the Cullens. she turned and walked towards her first period english class, leaving a slightly confused group of teens behind.


	12. Chapter 12: The Photos

_**READ THIS **_

_**READ THIS **_

_**READ THIS **_

_**READ THIS**_

**Ok guys this is an important authors note! For future reference- Remember that this fanfiction does NOT follow the plotline of the twilight books/movies or the Stefan diaries books!**

**And I am sorry for any misspellings. **

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It had been little more than a week since Lexi first visited the Cullen household and still thoughts of her plagued Carlisle's mind. When he saw the kids at night he would ask about the icy haired girl and for the first few days he got the same answers. Edward would just shrug saying he had seen her, Bella if she came with the Cullens, which she normally did, would tell him that they had studied together or talked during class a bit. Emmett might comment on a serve or catch she had in gym class, Rosalie would say she was fine, Jasper would do the same, and Alice would grin and explain how she had decided to sit by her in their classes.

A few days ago though, the vampires had to stay home due to another unusually sunny day in Forks and Bella had reported that Lexi had followed suit, and conveniently gotten sick that day. He had waited patiently until the next day and to his surprise everyone had the same tale to tell. Lexi was once again absent. The day after was the same and the one after that he was still met with stories of sickness. Eventually the weekend came and Monday seemed to bring the same irritating and worry worthy news. By then he wasn't the only one who was worried. Alice hadn't seen her in any visions lately either so they had decided to call a family meeting to talk about it.

"Maybe she really is sick?" Edward suggested before Bella, who he was holding in a one armed hug shook her head softly, but surely.

"No, I don't think she can get sick, Edward. You heard what she said earlier, her blood would have healed her." Alice bobbed her head in agreement before her brother spoke up again.

"Maybe that's only with physical wounds, we don't really know what she can and can't do." He pointed out. For all they knew he was right, maybe the blood only worked once she got a wound or maybe even only with vervain!

Esmé decided to say something from her spot on the couch. "Haven't you tried calling her, Bella?" She asked gently. The little human bobbed her head in confirmation.

"She only answered once, she said she was busy and had to call me back later."

"See it's all good!" Emmett chimed in with a large grin.

Bella shook her head again and explained further. "Emmett, that was Thursday, its Monday now and she still hasn't sent so much as a text."

The Cullens fell silent as they all started to think about what might be happening or what might have happened to the strange young lady. After about three whole minutes of silence, Rosalie decided to speak up. "So, what can we do about it? I mean its really none of our business anyway." She pointed out to them, trying to be the voice of reason. She would admit to herself that she didn't quite _mind_ the other blonde, but that didn't mean that she trusted her or even wanted to start trusting her! For all they knew Lexi could be lying about everything they knew about her.

Alice then spoke up, frowning almost surprised at her sister. "Rosalie, she's our cousin." She pointed out and then glanced over at Bella and added. "And our friend. What if she's in trouble?"

"Maybe she just left." Rosalie fired back, "I mean she made it pretty clear she wasn't a fan of the Cullen family or vampires- sorry 'Cold ones' " She said saying the last two words with an unbelievable amount of sarcasm. Everyone was surprised when Bella was the one to speak up against Rosalie. Normally she didn't participate, it wasn't a secret that Rose wasn't her biggest fan at the moment... or ever.

"No. She wouldn't just up and leave like that." The girl said surely and there was a moment of almost stunned silence from everyone before Esmé slowly stepped into the conversation.

"Alright..." She muttered. If Bella felt so strongly about this that she was willing to stand up to Rose then they were just going to have to see what they could do. "Bella do you have her address?" she questioned. The girl shook her head no but before anyone else could get a word in Rosalie spoke up.

"Wait, before we do anything don't you want to make sure she's been telling the truth?" She asked, shocked that they were about to plunge right into all of this. The boys stayed silent and so did Bella but Carlisle asked.

"What do you mean?" Rosalie frowned and then walked towards the door, motioning for them to follow.

"I'll show you what I mean." She muttered as she made her way to the nearest computer. Once there she sat down and started typing furiously on the keyboard. The rest of the group crowded around and watched as she went to Google and typed _'Alexia Branson.' _into the search.

Alice scoffed. "You seriously don't expect her to have covered her tracks over all these years?" She questioned.

Rosalie rolled he eyes at her sister and shook her head as the results finished loading. "No, but I do expect to find something." She muttered. Then Jasper chimed into the conversation.

"She's right Alice. I bet you could find lots of things leading back to us just through the schools we've gone to or our houses." He pointed out. Reluctantly the pixie-like girl fell silent again, seeing the logic in what he had said but not liking it.

They watched as Rosalie searched for several minutes before finding something. "Here." She clicked on an old article from an 1865 newspaper. "This was dug up for a history report on the civil war." She scrolled down a bit, speed reading and sending glances towards the pictures. Suddenly though she heard Carlisle say.

"Wait, go back." She glanced to her right at him and then scrolled up a bit until she heard he mutter. "There." He reached a pale hand towards the screen and pointed at a picture. It was taken during the night (and in 1865 for that matter), so the quality wasn't anything to marvel at but still all of them leaned in to get a better look. It was a Camp of some kind, with large simple tents set up everywhere and tables that men layed on with pain filled looks. It took them no time at all to realise this shot was from the civil war, but the most amazing thing about it was that beside the doctor in the shot there was a clear shot of a familiar face.

She wasn't looking directly at the camera and was instead focused on her work, but it was clear that this girl and their own Lexi was one in the same. She looked more elegant than she did in this century, with her hair in small ringlets that were pulled back into a bun. She had a dark colored hood around her shoulders, a simple corseted dress on and a focused but irritated frown on her pale pink lips.

All of the Cullens turned their attention from the picture when Rosalie began reading from the artical and reciting what she had learned. "_Miss Charlotte Roaddes and Miss Alexia Brandson are two of several nurses aiding the esteemed Doctor Frederik Roaddes in Union Camps." _She glanced up at Carlisle and Esme, as if reading her thoughts smiled softly at her husband and said.

"She seems to have followed in her uncle's footsteps." The motherly vampire smiled and pressed a kiss to Carlisle's pale cheek As he smiled softly, staring at the picture of Lexi working.

"Think of that control..." Jasper couldn't help but mutter as he remembered how much blood there was in the battles he fought. He was still new to this whole vegetarian diet, It was a challenge to be around Bella so often never the less a whole school of kids! In the very back of his mind he couldn't help but wonder, if she had so much control over her blood lust, could she help him?

"_When asked why they joined the service, Miss Charlotte claimed, "Miss Alexia and I have agreed that under the circumstances there is no where we would rather be than helping the fight for the union in whatever way possible."" _Rosalie read on.

The group was left to think about their thoughts as Rosalie continued looking for more about Lexi. They weren't quite sure about her reasonings but they were interested about what could be found about Lexi with her three hundred years spent on earth.

After a few more minutes and no real results other than a picture of Lexi at NY with some brown haired guy at new years eve in the late 70's, Edward muttered. "Try typing both Lexi and Alexia in, Rose." His sister glanced at him and then nodded, going back and retyping her search. '_Lexi Brandson, __Alexia Brandson_'. The group waited a moment before getting the results.

"These are the same articles as before..." Rosalie reported, before pausing in her scrolling as she thought of something useful. she went back to the top of the screen and clicked on the images button. Then she began to scroll through those. Eventually she found three photos that were of use to them.

The first was from what looked to be the late thirties or early forties, it was a picture taken of Lexi and the same man from NY in the earlier picture. It was a color photo, so now they could see the honey-like coloring in Lexi's hair back then as it swayed in loose curls from her stylish hat and the man's amused green gaze as he looked at His friend wrap her arm around his shoulders. They both seemed to be holding back laughs.

The second picture was the most recent, dating to what appeared to be just the 1990s. Lexi was again with this green-eyed stranger (Who Emmett was quick to point out looked exactly the same as the last photo). He was laughing heartily at Lexi, giving her shoulder a shove as the now straight haired blonde, stuck her tongue out and raised her eyebrows, making a face at the camera. The corner of the picture showed a bit of the thumb of the person taking it.

It was this last image that caught most of the family's attention, though Emmett was still laughing about the last one. It was from 1839, it was an iron sheet photo with the picture more or less painted on. Lexi looked much like she did in the Civil War picture wih long curly locks of hair, now free to slide along her back, but this time she looked much happier. She was smiling, beaming actually, she was cleaner and had on much nicer clothes. She wasn't the only one in the photo either. Standing next to her, setting a gentle yet comforting hand on her shoulder was a woman with similar icy locks of hair, but a much more angular face and a lighter skin tone. The two girls looked alike and it was clear they were about the same age physically. On the other side of seated Lexi was a man with dark brown hair, he was older than the two girls but clearly not old enough to be their father. He had an array of oaky brown hair that fell around his head in a ruffled manner and sharp features that mirrored the unknown girl's.

At the bottom of the photograph in large fancy print was written.

'_The Brandson family._

_ Mr. Joshua Andrew Brandson, Miss Helena Christine Brandson, and Miss Alexia Grace Cullen._

_1839 ~ Philadelphia_


	13. Chapter 13

**Ok, explanation time. Sorry about that chapter that has now been removed. I clicked on the wrong doc by accident XD It won't happen again, and I'm so sorry For both that and the wait! The chapter I posted was the start of a new story that I had been working on, and if you happened to like it then go ahead and look At the story, but if you just found it inconvenient then once again I'm say that I am very VERY sorry. **

**XXXXXXXXX**

The Cullens were silent for a moment as Rosalie managed to pull up all three images. Seven pairs of golden eyes scanned the photos over for a second time.

Bella leaned in to get a better look at the writing at the bottom of the last picture and her eyes widened in surprise as she spotted something she hadn't noticed the first time around. "Carlisle I thought you said that Lexi was your niece through your sister." She muttered, turning to look at the doctor.

He nodded in confirmation, "I did." He agreed, not quite understanding why this mattered so much to her.

Bella shifted and then wiggled out of Edward's arms, walking over to stand next to Rosalie by the computer. The group watched as she took the mouse and zoomed in on the last photograph. Then she released the mouse and pointed to the words at the bottom. "That saids Cullen, not Brandson." She explained with a soft frown.

Esme turned to her husband and cocked her head a bit. "You told me you didn't have any brothers." She muttered. Again Carlisle nodded in confirmation, frowning in absolute confusion. Then slowly but surely surprise and slight understanding started to pool in his eyes.

"She's not my niece... _She_ is." He pointed towards the standing girl who had her hand on a beaming Lexi's shoulder in a slightly motherly fashion. Everyone frowned in confusion except Rosalie who was smiling. She was glad that she was proven right, Lexi _had_ been lying to them! In the back of her mind she felt something like... Sadness, betrayal maybe? Still she shook it away, must just- no it must be nothing.

Never the less, Carlisle carried on with his explanation. "Yes, little Helena, I remember now, she was named after my sister's favorite aunt..." He trailed off as he tried to find more about his human years in his rotted memories.

"Then if Lexi's not your niece who is she?" Alice asked gently. Carlisle frowned, and stayed silent, not having an answer for the little pixie.

After a long moment he said. "I suppose we might just have to ask her ourselves."

Alice suddenly perked up ever so slightly at the thought of seeing her friend again after almost a week of absence. A moment later though her smile fell as she remembered. "I had a vision this morning, it's going to be sunny tomorrow, we won't be able to go to school." She muttered, saddened.

Esme shook her head. "Alice, if it's sunny she won't be there either."

"Yes." Carlisle agreed, "but I might be able to get her address from the school... Say it's needed for a medical file." After a few seconds to consider, everyone nodded their agreement to the plan.

"As long as we stay in the shade and get to the house quickly, we won't be seen sparkling." Alice agreed before Esme added.

"Only three of you go, this is dangerous to be out in the open like that." The children bobbed their heads obediently knowing it was better to just agree with her to ease her nerves when it came to things like this.

"So it's settled." The blonde haired vampire declared. "Bella, you will go with Alice and Edward to go see Lexi tomorrow to since you two seem the closest to her." He explained why Alice and Bella were going, because everyone could guess that Edward was only going because Bella was. "I'll get the address tonight and if everything goes as planned, you will leave at around ten tomorrow morning." Everyone bobbed their heads in agreement, calling the end of the family meeting.

**XXXXXXXXX**

The next morning Alice, Edward, and Bella were driving towards the edge of town in hopes that Carlisle had managed to find the right address. They sat in silence other than the soft hum of tunes on the radio. Alice was driving, Bella was in the passenger seat, and Edward was in the back. Everyone was relieved when they saw the right numbers on a red painted mailbox.

Alice easily pulled into the empty driveway and they all turned their eyes towards the home in front of them. It was a very simply little building. There was a garage to the left of the actual house that appeared to be two floors tall. The roof was made of black shingles and the walls were a soft cream color on both the house and the garage. The house was only one story high and was not very large at all. It _MAYBE_ had enough space for a kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom. _'Its cute..._' Bella thought as she looked over the property. She didn't have much more time to ponder over it though because a moment later Edward opened her door for her. Since they were out in the sunlight, both Alice and Edward had to cover up. The pixie- like girl had a scarf wrapped around her head, a long sleeved shirt with a stylish red jacket, jeans, gloves and sunglasses while Edward had dawned a hoodie, jeans, and sneakers. He kept his head down and his hands stuffed in his pockets to keep from getting hit by the sunshine.

Bella stepped outside, hugging her jacket close to herself for warmth, (it seems even on sunny days it's cold in Forks!) before exchanging a look with the vampires and heading towards the door with a sigh. When she got their she looked back at Alice who was standing beside her.

"Go ahead, Bella." She encouraged.

The brunette hesitated before raisin her hand and gently rapping on the door. She waited patiently for a moment before hearing someone call.

"Just a minute!" Though, it wasn't who they had expected to hear. The voice was clearly feminine but it had a thick British accent in it. All three of them exchanged a look of confusion before they heard the now more muffled voice of the same lady call through the house once more. "Lexi! Get your door!" Only the vampires heard the next part of the conversation due to their supernatural hearing ability.

"How am I supposed to do that? I'm making you breakfast!" That was a voice both Cullens instantly recognized as none other than Lexi Br- or Cullen rather. It made Alice smile and Edward cock his head a bit.

"Then I'll cook, you get the door." The first woman called back.

Lexi laughed, "Yeah right. I'm not letting you burn down this house." She said only half joking. With that there was a thoughtful pause in the conversation before both girls simultaneously called out.

"TREVOR!" And this time even Bella could hear them!

About a minute later, a man with dark brown hair opened the door, but the Cullens noted how he kept away from the doorway. They waited for a moment, expecting him to maybe say something, but he just stood their and looked at them. After an awkward silence, Alice decided to say something.

"Um, we're here to see Lexi... Is she here?" Of course she knew that Lexi was in fact home, but she couldn't have an explanation for knowing to give the stranger since she had found out using her supernatural hearing. So instead she played dumb, figuring it was the easiest option.

The stranger slowly started to smirk a bit and then motioned them inside. "Any friend of Lexi's is a friend of ours." He said simply, his voice holding the same rich accent as the first woman. They exchanged glances before walking inside. Edward took that moment to ask the question that they were all thinking.

"Who is 'ours'?"

The man paused before answering. "Old friends of Lexi's. I'm Trevor and Rose."

All at once Bella's heart rate sped up. 'Does that mean he's a vampire too?' She thought, growing increasingly worried. While she was fretting she didn't notice the man turning to look at her. A second later he lunged.

The rise in Bella's heartbeat had sent a new wave of the sweet smell of blood at Trevor and he just couldn't take it anymore. It had been sweet of Alexia to bring him and Rose dinner, but he just couldn't stand to wait that long with this little brown haired buffet standing right here!

He was surprised though when the boy jumped in front of him and blocked his path. He barred his fangs and veins appeared bellow his eyes, now blood red. Edward's eyes widened in surprise mixed with horror but he stayed put, refusing to let Bella get hurt if he could do something about it. It didn't deter Trevor though. He just blurred up to Edward and pushed him back a step before using his vampire strength to toss him aside. Bella heard a crash and saw a vase brake into pieces behind her. When Alice tried to intervene he did the same to her with ease before continuing to stalk towards his awaiting meal.

Bella took a few steps backwards in a vain hope to get away from the hungry vampire. Her big brown eyes were wide with fear, and she looked as pale as the Cullens. She squeezed them shut in preparation for the pain, but it never came. She felt a burst of air rush past her and then heard another crash. She slowly risked opening her eyes once more and saw a sight that surprised her. Crouching protectively in front of her, was none other than Lexi. She heard a threatening and frightening hiss come from the blonde vampire as she glared at Trevor. The man was on his side against the wall and Bella could only guess Lexi had thrown him there.

"Lexi." Was the only thing she could think to say in her shock. A moment later she felt another breeze and knew Edward was at her side. She watched as Alice went to stand on her other side, and felt her ice cold hands wrap around her own warm one.

"Are you out of your freaking mind?" Lexi snapped, staying crouched protectively in front of Bella and the Cullen cold ones. She wasn't yelling, but her voice was dangerous and made the hairs on the back of Bella's neck stand on end. She could only imagine what furry was written across Lexi's face, and though she hated to admit it, it pleased her. It warmed her heart to know that Lexi cared as much as she did. She watched as Trevor's face changed to that of a monster yet again, and pointed white fangs grew. He glared down at Lexi from across the room with blood red eyes.

"You shouldn't keep a vampire from his meal, Lexi." An underlying threat was clear in his voice. "You know that."

Lexi hissed, a noise that was threatening and instinctual. Bella had no doubt that by now Lexi's face looked exactly like trevor's, and she shuttered, taking a step back in fright.

"They're off limits, Trevor!" The blonde snapped. Trevor let out a noise that vaguely reminded Bella of a growl before launching himself at her once more.

He didn't get far though, Lexi blocked his way, launching herself at him and sending them both rolling to the floor. After a moment of furious struggle, Trevor had the younger vampire pinned to the ground under him. For the first time the group got a look at Lexi's vampiric face as she struggled violently in his grip. She couldn't manage to do more than lift her shoulders off the ground for a few seconds before being pressed down again.

Then Trevor pressed his hand to her throat, blocking her airflow. "Don't forget I'm older than you, Alexia!" He snapped, watching as she started to gasp for breath. At first he had been looking for something to eat, but now he felt an odd need to show this younger vampire her place.

Lexi's hands grabbed at Trevor's hand, clawed more like, trying desperately to get free anyway she could. After a few moments she could feel herself starting to fade. Her clawing fingers loosened their grip ever so slowly as she failed to breath in.

Then all of a sudden everything went black.


	14. Chapter 14

Coming back was always strange. No matter how many times you do it the first thing you feel is shock. Sometimes you can get a little bit of feeling back, or hear some of the conversation around you, but saddly now was not one of those times. All she saw was black.

She couldn't tell if it had been seconds, minutes or hours before all of a sudden air flowed into her lungs once more. Her eyes snapped open and she gasped in a breath. Her heart was beating fast, and panic shone in her eyes as she bolted into an upright position. Not a second later she felt a strong hand take hold of her own, and another start to rub circles on her back. It was vaguely familiar to Lexi, and yet she couldn't place from where. She took in more shakey breaths to calm herself from the shock of coming back, and eventually found herself returning the gesture of holding the person's hand.

"Shh..." She heard a soft voice coo from beside her. "Your alright... Your alright..." The blonde haired vampire listened to the voice as she closed her eyes and tried to get her breathing in order again. After a moment or two, the cool air had soothed her burning lungs and she had gotten he heart rate back to normal. Ever so slowly, she opened her dark brown eyes again, this time taking in her surroundings. She wasn't sure where she was exactly, but she recognized now who she was with.

"Mrs. Cullen?" She asked softly, confusion filling her voice. She turned her head to look over at the woman and found her guess to be correct.

"Esmé." The motherly vampire reminded, flashing a gentle smile and continuing to rub circles on the teen's back, keeping hold on her hand. A moment later she was joined by the rest of her family, who must have heard Lexi wake up from the other room. Sure enough there was an unnatural breeze that blew back both Lexi and her own hair and when the two turned towards the door, everyone was lined up, well everyone except Bella who entered a moment later seeing as she was human and couldn't run as fast as the others.

Lexi shifted when she saw them, pulling herself into a sitting position and swinging her legs off the couch where she had been place on. She glanced across the line, not speaking word until her eyes found Bella. She looked over the human and took a breath to check her sent, when she didn't catch the smell of blood, or anymore then she usually did anyway, she asked. "You alright?"

Bella frowned a bit and cocked her head. "Lexi, you just _died_ and your asking _me_ if I'm alright?" She pondered allowed before seeing the girl in question shrug.

"Well, I already know _I'm_ alright." She joked casually, earning her a smile from Alice, a smirk from Rosalie and an overly amused chuckle from Emmett. When she spotted the unamused looks from the rest of the family though, she decided to quickly change the topic. Taking another look around she asked, "Where am I?"

**XXXXXXXXX**

Everyone had long since left to explain what had happen when Alice, Edward and Bella went over to talk to Lexi. Esmé had volenteered to stay with the girl in case she woke up while they were talking. none of them knew how long that she would be out, but they didn't want to take any chances.

Alice had briefly explained that another vampire, one like Lexi, had told them to get her somewhere else, keep the curtens pulled, and that she'll wake up when she's healed. They had also been warned that they should keep Bella away from her while she's out seeing as she'll be runnig on instict for the first few moments. They certainly didn't want Lexi accidently (or on purpose as Rosalie felt the need to add) hurting the human.

Esmé was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard Lexi's heartbeat start back up again at a rapid pace. She looked over just in time to see the little blonde's eyes snap open and hear her take in a gasp. The first thing the motherly vampire saw was her fearful, panic filled brown eyes and suddenly Lexi wasn't the only one running on instict. Esmé's hand shot out to grasp the teen's in her own in a comforting gesture, but she could see it had little effect on the girl who was still struggling to catch her breath. So naturally she felt the need to try something else. Esmé placed her free hand on Lexi's back and rubbed soft circles on it. Luckily that seemed to work because a moment later she felt the vampire's muscles start to relax and heard the heartbeat begin to drop back down to normal.

"Shh..." She found herself trying to sooth as Lexi squeased her hand in return. "Your alright..." She whispered. Then to her relief, Lexi seemed to get everything from her heart rate to her breathing back in order.

"Mrs. Cullen?" She heard the girl ask before she opened her dark brown eyes and turned to see who had been mothering her. Said Cold one gave a smile towards her husband's relative and then nodded, pausing in rubbing circles on her back.

Though she still felt the need to gently correct her, "Esmé." She then noticed the tension coming back into the teenager's shoulders and decided to start up the comforting circular motion once more. She couldn't help a little smile as she noted the effect it had on Lexi. Once more she relaxed into the touch, and Esmé found herself thinking, _her mother must do this as well. _Once more she was struck with the thought that Lexi might have been over three hundred years old, but in reality she was justa teenager, and she was alone. She didn't have a mother or a father, or even older siblings to take care of her and looked to be only 18 years old at most.

A moment later the rest of her family was standing by the doorway, and that seemed to catch Lexi's attention. The teen looked up and as soon as she spotted the others she shifted away from Esmé's motherly soothing and sat up straight. Esmé noticed the way her eyes jumped over Carlisle, as if she didn't want to see him, so she was going to pretend she didn't.

Esmé stayed silent, just observing the guest as she spoke with Bella. She noted the icy blonde locks and a glance at her husband proved that the two were the same. The next thing she looked at was the shape of her face. It was rounder, but still she could see some kind of resemblance once she forced away the obviously different details. She wished that she could find something else to tie the two together, but no such luck. She saw that Lexi looked as if she was close family, but at the same time, she seemed to have taken off her other family line in most ways seeing as she only found a few hints in her face that she could be considered family.

Holding back a soft sigh, Esmé tuned back into the conversation at hand and noted that they had moved on from Bella's safety, and onto Lexi's.

Alice was the first one to ask. "Are you going to be OK?" Lexi nodded softly in response and then Alice, not truly believing that her friend was perfectly alright after being strangled to death continued to question her. "Do you need to hunt?" At the mention of hunting Lexi's thoughts automatically rounded back to blood and she felt a burning start up in her throat again, though it was one that she was more then familiar with. Not a moment later she felt her fangs lengthen and start poking at her bottom lip. She parted her lips ever so slightly to give them some room and keep them hidden at the same time, but pushed back the urge to feed.

"I'll be fine until nightfall." She said, but just as she was about to continue, Emmett spoke up.

"Woah!" He exclaimed, looking at the other teen with heightened interest. "Are those _fangs_?" Lexi naturally shut up, realizing that he must have seen them while she was talking earlier. So instead of replying she just nodded. Emmett's excitement turned to confusion when she didn't respond and he went on to say, "Hey, didn't mean to make ya feel weird." As his version of an apology.

Slowly Lexi nodded, and she closed her eyes for a moment as she retracted her fangs before speaking once more. "It's fine, I just wasn't sure if you guys were ok with it." By now all the Cullens were trying to get a glimpse of her fangs, but when she spoke this time she didn't have any, which prompted Emmett to point that out.

"They're gone." He stated simply, and she nodded in agreement.

"Lets just say I can hide them, I don't exactly know what happens to them when they aren't out." She tried to explain before a different Cullen boy speaks up to everyone's surprise.

Jasper looked at the girl and asked. "Can we see them?" Lexi frowned in confusion almost and Alice nudged her husband roughly and sent him a 'really?' look.

Either way Lexi eventually nodded and muttered, "Why not." Under her breath. Then she dropped her jaw and let her fangs slide out again. She heard a few gasps but other then that they handled it rather well!

That is until Bella mentioned. "Earlier, when-when you knocked that other vampire away, his face..." she trailed off but Lexi knew what she was talking about. So she retracted her fangs and stopped showing them off while motioning for her to come over and sit, which she did and the rest of Cullens followed her lead, picking chairs to rest in.

Lexi turned to Bella and then asked. "Do you have vervain on you?" Bella guiltily stayed silent. "Have you ingested it?" Lexi continued. still she got no answer. Lexi let out a small sigh of irritation. "Bella!" She scolded softly only to get an apologetic look in return.

Then Rosalie seemed to catch on to what she was doing and quickly imputed, "Your changing the subject." Lexi just shrugged and nodded at the same time with a frown on her face.

"Yes, yes I am." She agreed before turning to Esmé. "Mrs. Cullen, I'm actually rather hungry, could I use your kitchen?" Esmé smiled softly at the girl and then nodded, standing as she stood.

"Of course, you've already missed two meals." She agreed, seeing that the vampire was getting uncomfortable with the topic of conversation and deciding to help her change it. "I'll show you the way."

**XXXXXXXXX**

It had been little more then 20 minutes when someone came into the kitchen. Lexi had been working in silence on making her meal while the Cullens and Bella were debating what to in the next room. Eventually they had decided to try and ease Lexi into telling them the truth about what Rosalie had found and how she was really related to Carlisle. Rosalie had argued that they might not even be related, but then Edward had shared what he had heard Esme thinking about, and how they looked to similar not to be related by blood.

That was what led Esme, Alice, and Bella to the kitchen now. Lexi was just getting out a plate when the girls came in, but she paused and looked up when Bella and Alice deided to take a seat in the stools next to the counter. "Oh, hey." She greeted before adding. "Bella, I made extra, I figured you might be hungry too, you've had a long day."

The human glanced at the prepaired food before hearing Lexi let out a soft chuckle. "It's just some breaded chicken." she reveiled as she lifted the lid off of the pan she had been using and started putting the chicken onto the first plate. "I know it's not 5 star resteraunt cuisine, but I've gotta say I'm a pretty good cook." With that she set a set of silverware on the edge of the plate and pushed it towards Bella.

As Lexi went to get her own plate, Bella took a bite out of her food. "I didn't know you cooked." She muttered, trying to start up some conversation. "Where did you learn?"

Lexi didn't look up a Bella or the cullen woman as she grabbed a plate for herself and started to get her own food. "My mamma taught me." She explained, pulling a loose strand of hair back into place. Everyone caught a clip of an accent in Lexi's voice when she said the word 'mamma'. Esmé was the first one to recognize it though, and she smiled softly before acting on a hunch.

"I didn't know you were Italian Lexi." She started. "Ho sentito dire che è bello laggiù."

The vampire looked up in slight surprise, but a smile was gracing her features. After a moment she replied. "Grazie, ma no. Mia madre si era trasferita dalla loro patria prima che io nascessi. Ha incontrato mio padre in Inghilterra, e sono cresciuto lì."

Esmé and Alice nodded in understanding, but Bella remained confused. She spoke a little Italian, but she wasn't near fluent. Seeing that her best friend was confused, Alice quietly explained. "Oh, Esmé said Italy was beautiful, and then Lexi said that her mom was from Italy, but she met her dad in England."

"And I grew up there." Lexi finished with a nod. "I've been to Italy several times though, helps me remember her... I was always sort of a mamma's girl." she admitted with a sad smile as she started to eat again. She felt a hand on her shoulder and glanced up to see Esmé standing there. All of a sudden Lexi realized something. "You remind me of her." She muttered softly, not noticing until afterwords that she had said it allowed. She then shook her head a bit, as if trying to clear it and muttered. "Sorry I didn't-"

"It's fine." Esmé was quick to interrupt the apology. She just smiled down at the girl and gave her a soft nod. When Lexi looked up at her again, she just kept smiling and muttered. "I'm glad." It touched her that Lexi thought so highly of her. Especially with her being so used to being by herself... But maybe now she would let her help.

All the while Alice felt the eager excitement grow inside of her. She had seen the way her brothers and sisters were attracted to Lexi, and she felt a bit of protectiveness towards the girl as well. The only problem was that it seems Lexi herself wasn't a fan of them... But now Esmé and Carlisle had taken a similar interest in her and Lexi wasn't being as cold anymore. She had literally given her life to protect them and Bella, and now she said that Esmé was like her mother. Alice was getting the feeling that this shifty friend might just grow into a new sister, and she couldn't wait!

**XXXXXXXXX**

**Hey guys so I wanted to let you know that I changed around some dates and ages of some of the characters, and altered chapter Nine a bit. Just re-read the chapter and everything will make sense again :-) **

**Thanks for reading and reviewing! **

**Tumble/ Miss Mystic **


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